The Sundry Times - II

Newer Delhi

September 28, 2012

In preparation for the advanced winter session of Parliament, we witness frenzied activities in and around Tihar Jail. Now that the majority of Parliamentarians and a good number of bureaucrats are in Tihar, the legislature is forced to function in Parliament and the jail simultaneously. A mini Lok Sabha facility has been created in Tihar and directly connected to the Parliament house through a high speed 4G VPN, duly securatised by all relevant agencies. The legislature through use of technology can function seamlessly, though geographically separated by miles.

This has caught the attention of the world. The success of this set up has prompted the Government to examine the feasibility of connecting all state legislatures and state central jails through a dedicated network to ease the overcrowding at Tihar. With the judicial procedures as they are and most of the lawyer inmates like Raja and others preferring to argue their own respective cases, it may be a long while before Tihar returns to its original serene jail house with regular Yoga, Suraychakras and such. It is expected that other democracies will also adopt the distributed governance model for increased efficiency and reduced costs. TCS, Wipro, Infosys and others  (though in jail, through proxies) are eying a great business opportunity here.

All is quiet on our Western borders. Pakistan has given up its proxy war in Kashmir. The Western borders are now open for free trade between India and Pakistan. All Pakistan Army now is concentrated on its Western borders to defend that country from an impending attack by the US.  With no axe to grind with Pakistan, India is neutral overtly and supports Pakistan covertly. China, sensing the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the US Army is not bothered about these developments.

Instead, China is concentrating all its efforts in building infrastructure projects in India. The joint venture between India and China in the North Eastern Himalayan regions to harness shale gas is expected to ease the pressure on energy requirements of India and China, who these days call the shots in the IMF. Toward the end of last year in an unprecedented move Manmohan Singh took over as the President of IMF on a special request by G20 leaders to steady the World economy. This move also suited India. Now Pranab Mukherji is the PM and Sonia is back in a 'hospital' in the US with Rahul in attendance, which also contributes to good governance.  Now that India is on a steady keel, all the prominent news anchors of all the prominent Indian news channels have been loaned to various democracies of he world to bring their respective governments also on even keel. For instance Rajdeep Sardesai is on loan to BBC because of his added interest in cricket. Barkha Datt, though has stayed back to set up the Public Information department of J&K, on a special request from the chief minister Omar Abdulla.

An Army spokesman, on behalf of the C-in-C Gen VK Singh, in a press conference last Friday (a weekly routine these days) expressed satisfaction at the progress of integrating the MOD and defence headquarters. He confirmed that this exercise will be completed before the next Republic day.