Related posts:

1. బడ్జెట్ పై ముందుగానే ఆసక్తి ?
2. మీడియాలో అవినీతి మాటేమిటి?

Related posts:

1. Some Views on T-movement
2. కోదండరాం, KCR లకు ఏమి కావాలి?
3. ఆర్మీ – ప్రభుత్వం ఎవరిపట్టు ఎంత?

పాకిస్తాన్ లో సైనికదళ ప్రధానాధికారి ప్రభుత్వం ఎంతకాలం ఉండాలో నిర్ణయిస్తాడు, అదే ఇండియాలో ప్రభుత్వమే ఆర్మీ చీఫ్ పదవికాల వయసును నిర్ణయించేస్తుంటుంది.
భారత్ , పాకిస్తాన్ కు ఇంచుమించు ఒకేసారి స్వాతంత్ర్యం వచ్చినా ప్రభుత్వ యంత్రాంగంలోనూ, సైనిక దళాధికారుల కదలికల్లోనూ చాలా తేడానే ఉంది. ఇప్పుడు స్ప్రెడ్ అవుతున్న ఎస్ఎంఎస్ అందుకే అలా చురకవేసింది.
సైనికదళ ప్రధానాధికారి విజయ్ కుమార్ సింగ్ పదవీ విరమణ వయసు విషయంలో సుప్రీంకోర్టుదాకా వెళ్లాల్సి రావడంతో బ్యూరోక్రసీ, మిలటరీ ఆఫీసర్స్ మధ్య అంతరం పెరిగిపోయే పరిస్థితి వచ్చేసింది. ఈ నేపథ్యంలో కొన్ని వాస్తవాలు మాట్లాడుకోవాలి.
మనదేశంలో ఆర్మీపై రాజకీయనాయుకుల, అధికారగణ ప్రభావం ఉంటూనేఉంది. అయితే, శ్యామ్ మానెక్ షా, కె. సుందర్జీ వంటివారిని మినహాయిస్తే, సైనికదళ ప్రధానాధికారలపై బ్యూరోక్రాట్లు, నేతల పెత్తనం జరిగిందనే చెప్పాలి.
సివిలియన్ బ్యూరోక్రసీ కారణంగా తాము ఇబ్బందులు పడుతున్నామని ఆర్మీ అధికారులు అప్పుడప్పుడు చెబుతూనే ఉన్నారు.
ఆర్మీ జనరల్ వి.కె.సింగ్ వ్యవహారం చల్లబడిపోవచ్చు, కానీ, ఆర్మీ, బ్యూరోక్రసీ మధ్య ఏర్పడిన అఘాతం తొలిగిపోతుందని అనుకోలేం. రాజకీయ నాయకులు కూడా బ్యూరోక్రసీకే కొమ్ముకాస్తారు. ఫలితంగా మళ్లీ ఇలాంటి సంఘటనలు జరగకుండా బ్యూరోక్రసీ చక్రం మరింత బిగుసుకోవచ్చు. చివరకు జరిగేది అదే…
ఆర్మీ అదికారులపై సివిలియన్ కంట్రోల్ ఏమేరకు ఉండాలన్న అంశంపై ప్రభుత్వం దృష్టిపెట్టాలి. మనదేశంలో ప్రజాస్వామ్య గాలులు బలంగా వీస్తున్నాయి కాబట్టి పాకిస్తాన్ తరహాలో ఉపద్రవాలు రాకపోవచ్చు. కానీ, పదేపదే పొరపాట్లు జరిగితే, మొలకెత్తే మనస్తాపాలు ఏటు దారితీస్తాయో చెప్పలేం.
చివరగా మరో విషయం ప్రస్తావించుకోవాలి. పందొమ్మిది వందల ఎనభైమూడులో నాటి ప్రధానమంత్రి ఇందిరాగాంధీ హయాంలోని ప్రభుత్వం లెఫ్ట్ నెంట్ జనరల్ ఎ.ఎస్.వైద్యను ఆర్మీ ఛీప్ గా నియమించింది. అయితే, ఈ క్రమంలో లెఫ్ట్ నెంట్ జనరల్ ఎస్.కె. సిన్హా సీనియార్టీని పక్కనబెట్టేసింది. దీంతో సిన్హా నిరసనగా తప్పుకోవాల్సివచ్చింది. ఆర్మీ చీఫ్ నియామకంలో సీనియార్టీని ఉల్లంఘించిన సంఘటన ఇదొక్కటే జరిగింది. అయితే, అది కూడా ఎందుకు జరిగిందన్న విషయంపై అప్పట్లో చెవులుకొరుక్కునేవారు. ఆ కథనం ఏమిటంటే, అమృత్ సర్ స్వర్ణాలయంలో సైనిక చర్యకు సిన్హా మద్దతు చెప్పలేదనీ, అందుకే ఆయకు ఈ ఉన్నతపదవి దక్కలేదని అనుకునేవారు.
- తుర్లపాటి నాగభూషణ రావు

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1. ఆసియాలోనే మన బ్యూరోక్రసీ అధ్వాన్నం
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3. `కమల’ గారడీ

• పార్టీల విలీనం
• విలీనానికి అంగీకరించని సభ్యుల భవితవ్యం
• స్వతంత్ర్య అభ్యర్థులుగా ఎన్నికై, అనుబంధ సభ్యులుగా కొనసాగేవారు.
• పార్టీ ఆదేశాలను అతిక్రమించేవారు.
• పార్టీ విప్ ను ధిక్కరించేవారు
• స్వచ్ఛందంగా పదవులు త్యజించేవారు..

 విఫ్ ని దిక్కరించినా పార్టీలు క్షమించడం...ఇలాంటి అంశాలన్నీ మన రాజ్యంగ నిపుణులు ఏనాడో ప్రస్తావించడం
గమనార్హం. ఇక్కడే ఇంకో మాట ప్రస్తావిస్తాను... పదో షెడ్యూల్ లోని ఈ అంశాలన్నీ ఈ మధ్య రాష్ట్ర అసెంబ్లీ
శీతాకాల సమావేశాల్లోనే చోటుచేసుకోవడం. మరో ఆసక్తికరమైన విషయం ఏమిటంటే, ప్రస్తుతం నడుస్తున్న పదమూడవ
శాసనసభ గురించి వచ్చిన, వస్తున్న వార్తలు గతంలోని పన్నెండు శాసనసభల కాలంలో రాలేదు. అసలు, పద్దెనిమిది
మంది ఎమ్మెల్యేలు. ముగ్గురు ఎమ్మెల్సీల సభ్యత్వాల రద్దు విషయం ఒకేసారి విచారణకు రావడం కూడా ఓ అరుదైన
ఘటనే. వీరిలో పదహారుమంది ఎమ్మెల్యేలు, ముగ్గురు ఎమ్మెల్సీలు అధికార కాంగ్రెస్ పార్టీకి చెందినవారే కావడం
గమనార్హం. కాగా, పీఆర్పీ నుంచి శోభానాగిరెడ్డి, టీడీపీ నుంచి బాలనాగిరెడ్డి అనర్హత విచారణ ఎదుర్కుంటున్నారు.
 ప్రజారాజ్యం పరిస్థితి ఏమిటంటే, ఆ పార్టీ కాంగ్రెస్ లో అధికారికంగా విలీనం అయింది.  ఎన్నికల కమిషన్ రూల్స్
ప్రకారం చూస్తే ప్రజారాజ్యం పార్టీ ఇప్పుడు లేనట్టే. అయితే, అసెంబ్లీలో మాత్రం పీఆర్పీ ఉనికి అలాగే ఉంది.
ఎందుకంటే, శాసనసభ నిబంధనావళి ప్రకారం చూస్తే, విలీన ప్రక్రియ పూర్తి కాలేదు. ఈలోగానే అసెంబ్లీలో మొన్న
అవిశ్వాస తీర్మానం వచ్చేసింది. ఈ సందర్భంగా ఓటు వేయాల్సి వచ్చినప్పుడు పీఆర్పీగానే ఆ పార్టీ సభ్యులను
గుణించాల్సి వచ్చింది. అందుకే పీఆర్పీ కూడా అవిశ్వాసం తీర్మానం ప్రవేశపెట్టిన  సమయంలో తన పార్టీ సభ్యులకు
పీఆర్పీ విఫ్ జారీచేసింది. ఈ కారణంగానే ఎమ్మెల్యే శోభానాగిరెడ్డి సభ్యత్వాన్ని రద్దుకు ఆ పార్టీ ముందుకు వచ్చింది.
విఫ్ ను దిక్కరించినందుకు వేటు వేయాలంటూ స్పీకర్ ను కోరింది.
 ఈ పరిణామాలు రాజ్యాంగంలోని పదోషెడ్యూల్ సూచించిన నిబంధనలను మరోసారి చాటిచెప్పినట్టే అయింది.
ఒక విషయం తేటతెల్లమైంది. శాసనసభ వెలుపల పార్టీ మరో పార్టీలో విలీనమైనంత మాత్రాన ప్రక్రియ పూర్తి
అయినట్టుకాదు. విలీనమైన పార్టీ ఈ మేరకు స్పీకర్ కు లేఖ రాయాలి. స్పీకర్ తగిన ఆధారాలను పరిశీలించి
శాసనసభ్యుల అభిప్రాయాలు తెలుసుకుంటారు. అప్పుడెవరైనా విలీన ప్రక్రియను వ్యతిరేకిస్తే వారిని వేరుగా గుర్తించే
అవకాశాలుంటాయి. అనంతరం విలీన ప్రక్రియ పూర్తయినట్టు ప్రకటిస్తారు. అప్పుడే విలీనమైన పార్టీ, కలుపుకున్న
పార్టీ సభ్యులు కలిసి అసెంబ్లీలో ఒకే చోట కోర్చోవడానికి వీలవుతుంది.
 మొత్తానికి రాష్ట్ర శాసనసభ ఔన్నత్యాన్ని కాపాడేలా స్పీకర్ నిర్ణయాలు తీసుకుంటారని ఆశిద్దాం.

- తుర్లపాటి నాగభూషణ రావు

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2. TRS MLAs attacked on JP in Assembly
3. నారాతో జూ.ఎన్టీఆర్ వార్ ?

Tharanga Media

• Tharanga Radio: Recreate the magic of such legendary radio personalities as Ameen Siani (Hindi), Ushasri (Telugu), and Casey Kasem (English); and such legendary shows as Bhoole Bisre Geet, America’s Top 40, “Wait, Wait, Don’t tell me!” and other popular talk shows.
• TharangaMedia.com: Destination for show archives, articles and much more.
• Community building: Listeners of Tharanga Radio interact with show hosts and other listeners and make friends worldwide. Expect to see social gatherings by listeners in various cities on a regular basis.

Management Team:

• Mohana Muralidhar  -- Founder and Chairman
• Narasimha Rao Buddhavarapu -- CEO and Managing Director of Tharanga Media & Digital Networks India Pvt. Ltd.
• Nagaraju Lanka -- Director
• Srinivas Chennuri -- Director
• Kanaka Prasad Byraju -- Director

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From Times of India:

Chiranjeevi, who leads the Praja Rajyam Party in Andhra Pradesh, filled up a form seeking primary membership of the Congress and the AICC headquarters in the presence of Gandhi and senior leaders.

“I will remain in the Congress for the rest of my life. I will be a loyal worker…I thank Rahulji, our Prime Minister in the future,” the actor said.

Chiranjeevi also hailed Gandhi as the “future” and the “ray of hope” for the country.

Ayya Chiru garu, meekidi avasaramaa?

Another Gandhi from the Nehru family, another “ray of hope” for the country, eh? I have a tendency to make new words by combining syllables from multiple words. In that tradition, I would say: another Gandhi, another “rape” for the country.

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At 10 AM Eastern, I sneaked out to join TV9 bulletin live via telephone -- to talk about the unfolding financial crisis. My segment starts at about 6:06 in the video.

Tune in to TV9 Today at 6:30 PM Eastern for my more detailed take on current crisis.

Here is the video (heavily edited) from that segment.

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Source: The Economist (Click on the image for interactive graphic)

As I mentioned several times, India with only 128% of debt burden (sovereign + consumer debt) and huge population, is the right place to be for economic growth, closely followed by China.

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This is a followup to my post yesterday, Dying Young. Via Times of India:

When asked as to what the Institute in general and Guidance and Counselling Unit (GCU) in particular was doing to address the situation and to improve the response against such incidents, dean of students Govardhan M said, “Why are you always reporting negative news about IIT Madras? We also have the maximum number of patents but you didn’t report that. But you would want to report the death of 3 out of 5000 students which is statistically not important. Why don’t you go to other engineering institutes and find out how many died there. Why only IIT?”

Three suicide deaths in five months are “statistically not important?” How much more stupid and insensitive can one get in a situation like this? This dean is pathetic and has no business being the dean.

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3. This is Very Painful: Students of For-Profit Educational Outfits Turn to Stripping

Side-impact accidents are often deadly

The Indian community in the US and around the world is shocked by the untimely death of four Indian students at University of Missouri, Rolla.

Sunday morning, a group of five headed to the Lake of the Ozarks to do some shopping, maybe even for some of their family back home.  “One of the students was actually planning to go visit his family in India on Tuesday,” says Venkat Allada, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies at Missouri S&T.

Heading west on Highway 42 in Miller County just after 10:30 Sunday morning, the car crossed the center line and was hit broadside by a pickup.

Friends soon learned the driver, 22 year old Murali Bottu, was critically injured.  But they heard no news about the rest.  “We just thought the most serious guy would be taken care of first.  So the thing we had in mind was, ok, these guys had small injuries, and probably they’re in nearby hospitals.  We had hope,” says Gandikota.

Four or five hours later, they learned four of their friends were killed.  “It’s been pretty hard on all of us,” says Gandikota.

24 year old Srupen Reddy Velumula, 22 year old Sri Harsha Chitturi, 21 year old Srikanth Ravi, and 23 year old Dheeraj Gudlawar were all pronounced dead at the scene.

[Full article from ky3 here]

How do we deal with such tragic news? Personally, I deal with it by pretending nothing has happened and not think about it. I know it is not right -- but it served me reasonably well.

Suicides by the Young

This is another unfortunate reality. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), surpassed only by accidents and homicide. I am in the academic world where we often hear about students committing suicide. Whether we know the student personally or not, all of use get distraught when such sad news hits home. Once such incident happened recently at GMU, where I teach.

Nathaniel Bresler, an UNH Student who committed suicide

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, March 1, a University of New Hampshire sophomore, 20-year-old Nathaniel Bresler, committed suicide by lying down in front of an oncoming train.

Bresler, of Bow, N.H., transferred to UNH from George Mason University in Virginia this semester as a political science major.

At 12:15 a.m., Bresler’s Facebook status was updated from a blackberry phone to read, “I’m sorry everyone. please forgive me.”At approximately 12:22 a.m. Tuesday, Amtrak officials notified the Durham Police Department that an eastbound train struck a person on the railroad tracks about 50 feet from the Bennett Road Overpass in Durham, Durham Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley said in a statement Tuesday.

[Full article here]

What prompted me to write this sad note today is an e-mail I got from the IIT-M alumni mailer, which alerted me to a  recent bout of suicides at IIT-M.

May 9, 2011

On Wednesday afternoon, Nitin Kumar Reddy, a final year mechanical engineering student from IIT, Madras committed suicide.

Nitin left a Facebook message on the wall that read: “I fought hard but lost.”

There is more to that final post than what meets the eye. It is not just Nitin.

In the past five months three students from the same institution (including V. Anoop from the same department) have ended their life. Faculty members and officials say that such incidents cannot be attributed to academic pressure alone, but call for immediate attention.

“This is a complex issue that needs to be addressed. No one can say it’s because of academic pressure. There could be several reasons,” says M. Govardhan, dean (students) at IIT-M.

[Full article here]

Three suicides in five months at my alma matter! That is too much. The news reminded me of an incident that happened about 25 years ago. Back in the mid 1980s, IIT-M decided to put ceiling fans in each of the hostel (dorm) rooms. They were installing them one hostel at a time and our (Tapati) turn wouldn’t come for another year or so. I paid a maintenance worker to install a hook and then brought my own fan. A couple of years or so after I left, I was told that a student who occupied that room has hung himself to the very same hook I got installed. It was eerie.

What is an administration to do? The following is from the e-mail I got this morning via IIT-M Alumni network.

The unfortunate suicide of Nitin Kumar Reddy on 4thMay has upset all of us in IIT Madras….

This unfortunate incident of the suicide happened too suddenly for the system to react constructively. It is extremely unusual for a final year student with many friends on campus to take such precipitate action. All the faculty concerned with student activities headed by the Dean have already begun discussions with students in an effort to come to terms with this unfortunate occurrence and to find ways  by which such cases can be better monitored and dealt with by the system.

-Director, IIT-Chennai

As a faculty at a major US university, I can say with confidence that there is support network in place to prevent such tragic events. But, the real work has to be done at home. As a parent, all I can say about such news is that there is nothing in this world more tragic to any person than knowing his/her offspring died at such an young age. I hope the families of these youth gather courage to deal with such reality. For the rest of us, it won’t hurt to educate ourselves more about this issue.

Factors that increase the risk of suicide among teens include:

• a psychological disorder, especially depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol and drug use (in fact, approximately 95% of people who die by suicide have a psychological disorder at the time of death)
• feelings of distress, irritability, or agitation
• feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness that often accompany depression (a teen, for example, who experiences repeated failures at school, who is overwhelmed by violence at home, or who is isolated from peers is likely to experience such feelings)
• a previous suicide attempt
• a family history of depression or suicide (depressive illnesses may have a genetic component, so some teens may be predisposed to suffer major depression)
• physical or sexual abuse
• lack of a support network, poor relationships with parents or peers, and feelings of social isolation
• dealing with homosexuality in an unsupportive family or community or hostile school environment

Warning Signs

Suicide among teens often occurs following a stressful life event, such as a perceived failure at school, a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a major family conflict.

A teen who is thinking about suicide might:

• talk about suicide or death in general
• talk about “going away”
• talk about feeling hopeless or feeling guilty
• pull away from friends or family
• lose the desire to take part in favorite things or activities
• have trouble concentrating or thinking clearly
• experience changes in eating or sleeping habits
• self-destructive behavior (drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or driving too fast, for example)

[Full article here]

If parents are constantly fighting between themselves, or worse, heading for a divorce -- it is likely that the teens blame it on themselves and consider suicide. It is suspected that one of the reasons for the recent suicide of the former GMU student (mentioned above) was that his parents recently got separated.

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Here is the traditional view held by those like Professors Mohan, Sriram and Pres. Obama. I call it the socialist view. Insurance companies’ primary motive is to make profit. Providing quality healthcare at a low price is not their primary purpose. They are incentivized to pick healthy clients and deny coverage to those that are sick. These are essentially companies that suck blood out of patients on a death bed. Healthcare should not be a profit driven enterprise like Microsoft and Apple are. Healthcare is different as peoples’ lives are at stake and quality healthcare is a fundamental right.

Healthcare neither falls in the domain of the employers nor the government. The responsibility of getting healthcare should rest with individuals.

Till the 1940s, healthcare remained in the realm of patients, doctors and insurance companies. Thanks to government’s indiscriminate printing of money, annual inflation index used to wildly gyrate between 5% and 20% in 1940s. As it always is the case, government finds fault with the private sector and not with itself when things go wrong- not very different from the current financial and housing crisis. In 1940s, in order to control inflation, Congress restricted private companies from giving pay hikes to employees. Salary is the principal means of attracting talented employees. In the absence of that, companies started relying on incentive schemes like health insurance to attract talent.

Now, why is Anil’s cost of employee healthcare going up by 30% and coverage down by 20%? In capitalists’ frame of mind, the exact opposite should happen, i.e. real price of care should come down and/or quality of care should go up. Not very different from the way real price of televisions, iphones, laptops, and other goods go down.

You do not need to be a healthcare expert to figure out the reasons for this. Just go back and look at all your doctor visits in the last year. We go to an internal medicine doctor for a common cold. We run to a paediatrician every time our children have a minor ailment. Other than the co-pay of $10 or $20, have we ever looked at the actual cost of each visit? What if you were paying $200 from your pocket for every visit to the internal medicine doctor, would you still run to him for a common cold? Would you allow your doctor to do all those lab tests and MRI scans if the $500 was coming from your pocket? For your common cold, you probably would have found a nurse that charges $50. If the nurse feels that the case is more complicated, she would have referred you to an internal medicine doctor and then to a specialist if the case is worse.

Now to the retirees and senior citizens- many in the left, including Paul Krugman, believe that we waste too much money on treating the old. Medicare budget is projected to be $468 billion in year 2012 and the costs have been doubling every 4 years for several decades. Intellectuals on the left say that billions of dollars spent on treating old people should instead be spent on sick young men and women, who have decades of productive life left in them. Hence they design counselling schemes for “end-of-life” options for the elderly. This is when politicians like Sarah Palin scream death squads.

The issue is a little deeper than left’s social engineering schemes or the right’s claims of death squads. The fundamental problem lies in removing the patient and his family out of financial decisions of healthcare. Let’s say Joe had net savings of about $100,000 and needs that money for his children’s college and his 95 year older father is terminally ill and on a life support system. Would Joe be willing to incur the cost of extending his father’s life by a month at an expense of $100,000? Some people would, but there are also a large number of people that wouldn’t. The decision is deeply personal and should be left to the individual and his family. Instead, we now have Medicare, which is purportedly free. Families demand that their loved ones be on expensive care into perpetuity. Add the religious angle of “life” to the mix, and the battle becomes even more militant. Is it a surprise that the cost of care is going through the roof?

There is a claim that insurance companies with their profit motive cherry pick healthy patients. However, when markets are allowed to function freely without government intervention many schemes will emerge to meet all kinds of needs. There could be schemes where you sign-up early in life with fixed premiums for life. There could be schemes just to deal with emergencies and serious illnesses, while you pay through your pocket for basic care.

Some claim that insurance companies’ off the charts profits are contributing to rising healthcare costs. How come Microsoft, Apple, and Cisco’s off the charts profits result in lower cost and/or higher quality products? It is not the profits, but lack of cost/quality pressures from the individuals getting the care, is the primary reason for spiralling costs.

Lastly, capitalist societies are known for their charitable frame of mind. Only 18% of the hospitals in the United States are for profit, 62% are non-profit and 20% are government run. For the few that cannot afford care, charitable organizations abound.

The costs of healthcare in both employer provided and government provided systems are spiralling out of control as neither the government nor the employer are equipped to improve the quality of care nor to reduce the cost of care. A bureaucrat will not be as careful as you are with your money. No system is better than hundreds of millions of patients constantly putting $-pressure on insurance companies, doctors, and hospitals for better care on a daily basis.

What is the solution? It is a fact that the money to run both the employee and government provided schemes is coming from your pocket. If individuals get the same tax incentives that govt gives to employers, health insurance will gradually become an individual responsibility. If elderly patients are given cash vouchers to buy their insurance, it will put tremendous pressure on costs of elderly care too. This will be a good starting point to reign in the crisis in healthcare sector.
________________________________________________

Footnote:
Interestingly, Indian healthcare system today is on a good growth trajectory. Thanks to socialism, government healthcare system is in shambles and private healthcare is thriving. Individuals apply tremendous cost and quality pressures on the system. There is constant talk in the media and among people about how some hospitals and doctors fleece patients with unnecessary treatments. Patients closely pay attention to charges and get into arguments with administrative staff about why certain scans are prescribed. These pressures are healthy and efficiency boosters. As a result, healthcare industry is growing rapidly in India. There is a gamut of hospitals providing less complex care to those that offer highly specialized treatment.

However, I am almost certain that when the industry starts humming along, government will intervene with its benevolent schemes. In fact they already have started. Indian Government recently imposed a service tax on hospitals that have an air conditioner. What will hospitals do to avoid the tax? Some will remove air conditioners and the rest will pass on the costs to patients. Who will suffer? Patients!

Another case is where Andhra Pradesh government introduced free healthcare in the name of Aarogya Sri. Now patients go to private hospitals to use this scheme. Patients are happy as government pays for the care. My relatives who work in the healthcare industry are also happy as they can now charge more and get paid by the government without having to haggle with the patients. Government is happy as they get votes to stay in power. Things look deceptively good. Wait till the scheme turns out to be another Medicare where costs spiral out of control and quality drops.

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I watched the 1983 world cup finals in the common hall of Visvesavarayya hostel of SVU College of Engineering, Thirupathi, along with 100+ engineering students. In 1983, color TV was new in India and color programming on Doordarsan was intermittent. For several overs during West Indies batting, Dooradarsan cut cricket for other programming (imagine doing that today!). Such important moments as Viv Richards being out caught by Kapil Dev could only be seen several years later (at least by me).

Today I was with a crowd of nearly 300 people at Touch. We had some audio problems in the 15 overs but video was fine. Fantastic game! Enjoyed every min of it.

India played so well as a team. Once again, one of the best fielding display by India I have ever witnessed. India might have saved at least 40 runs during the first 40 overs. Of course, Lankans batted well in the slog overs -- we can’t blame it on poor fielding and bowling by India.

Great game and I am glad I got to see it.

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TORi will do an Indo-Pak war- err -- cricket special on Wednesday, March 30 during the semifinals game. The show is anchored from Hyderabad and Fairfax, VA.  Call (703) 879-6611 during the game to cheer Team India.

రండి -- రచ్చ రచ్చ చేద్దాం!

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