General Elections 2009: Indian Political Bazaar

The counting of votes for Indian General Elections 2009 will begin today at 0800 hours.

And the leaders of various National and Regional Political Parties have already negotiated with each other, against their parties support to form the Government at the Centre. Still few hours are left before any trend / results come out but these people have already heated up this political market, where governments are not only formed by the peoples’ votes but also by horse trading.

Similar to Cricket IPL, here to the regional parties which are believe to win more seats are commanding better prices and portfolios in the cabinet ministry. JDU leader, Nitish Kumar wants special status for the state of Bihar, Naveen Patnaik of BJD wants to become the Chief Minister of Orissa while Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh of SP , and BSP Supremo Mayawati wants best portfolios for themselves and their party MPs’.

Even this is not enough, politicians like Mulayam Singh, Mayawati and also Sharad Pawar of NCP , who all belong to Regional Parties and their parties have major presence mainly in their respective states, have ambitions to become the Prime Minister of India after these elections. I’m not saying that being ambitious is wrong; but the problem is that anyone of them can only become the PM, only when all of them come together, with many other parties to form the Third Front and form the Government at the Centre. And this to me seems to be a major problem and distant possibility for a stable government.

Anyways let’s wait for tomorrow and days to come to see the final outcome of this Political Bazaar, which is currently going on in New Delhi. And also at the same time let’s hope that any government which comes into the power does something good for the country and its people…

Indian News Channels: Quantity over Quality

Who says Indian news broadcast channels are not mature as their International counterparts? Even Indian channels know how to do their business, how to increase their TRP’s and also how to woo the advertisers, etc. These Indian news channels are not only earning the bread and butter for their owners; but also attaining their break-even points much faster than it was in the past…

But if we talk in terms of the content or the social responsibilities, then I definitely agree that Indian news channels are not as mature as their International counterparts. In fact, the word “mature” isn’t made for Indian news channel.

Actually there are 2 types of news channel in India: First is the Hindi News Channel and Second is the English News Channel. I’ve considered both Hindi and English News Channels as different categories since the quality of the content differ…

Let’s suppose you want to know the news and switch on some Hindi News Channel: No points in guessing what you actually get to see, something which most of us actually don’t consider a news item like “swarg ki seedhiyan (Steps to Heaven)” or “Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ne rakha vrat (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan does fasting on the occasion of Hindu festival)”, etc. Let me also some of the headlines from various of these channels, “Dada pade Sachin bhaari (Sachin’s team defeats Saourav’s Team) ” , “Train ke neeche ke baad bhi Kutta jeevit bacha (Dog is still alive even after coming under the moving Train)”, etc… None of the Hindi news channel shows, a single news regarding more important news like measures which should be used to curb inflation, US Presidential elections, Global warming, etc…

Hindi news channel are also following a pattern these days; when I say “pattern”, I meant to make a point that all these channels show similar news which had a good TRP’s in the past. Like when the incident of Prince falling in a boring well happened, it was something which most of the people saw for the first time , hence everyone was curious about the child; and now after every few weeks we see one more child falling in such wells… If some channels show a program featuring a story related to Ramayan or Mahabharta, then all the other news channels will soon show some related story… I don’t know which and when, one of the news channel started showing the program like “Vaardat” or “Aaj Aapka Din (How your day will be today)” but now we can find such programs on every Hindi News Channel. And how can I forget mentioning about the programs which showcases the items of the Laughter Champions and also about the various reality shows like Indian Idol, Voice of India, etc. And also how can I forget mentioning about Khalli – The WWE Fighter, he is the favorite news item for many of these Hindi News Channels…

The English News Channels here are not better but definitely show better quality programs than their Hindi counterparts… They too some masala news but those are mostly related to Bollywood or Cricket… But the best part is that they try to cover most of the important news too…

People might be interested in knowing about Abh-Ash wedding but are they also interested in knowing whether Aishwarya is observing a fats or not? People wanted to know about the status of children falling in boring-wells but for how long, are we really interested in viewing the Live Telecast from the venue? I agree that IPL (Indian Premier League) has become a big thing in the world of cricket and also lot of moolah is involved in it but has it become bigger than news like inflation, caste reservations, economy, etc which are of national interests?

I agree that these news channels are also showing such programs and stories since people watch it but I still believe that if any channel is considering a “News Channel” then please show some relevant news or else start promoting yourself as a “Page3 Channel” or some “Lifestyle Channel.”

Sometimes I really feel that Doordarshan’s National News is still the best in the country since in its half-an-hour duration it tries to cover the maximum news across the globe and from all the fields…

Why can’t these Indian news channels think of programs like which is actually for the betterment of the country and its people...

INDIA - World Twenty20 Champions...

Congratulations to Team INDIA for becoming the first ever World Twenty20 Champions !!!





Three Cheers for Team INDIA
Hip Hip Hurray...
Hip Hip Hurray...
Hip Hip Hurray...


Chak De INDIA !!!

Good News: No OBC Quota for current academic session

The Supreme Court of India has finally given its verdict that No OBC Quota for current academic session.

A good news for all the people who were opposing the OBC Quota Bill...

Read the full news @ ibnlive.com

The 52nd Filmfare Awards: Winners

The 52nd Filmfare Awards were announced… Kajol and Hrithik won the Best Actress and Best Actor award at the Filmfare Awards…

For more info check out this.

Even though i don't agree with Hrithik getting the Best Actors Award instead of Aamir.

PS: If your opinion also differs from the jury like mine on any of the winners, then do let me know...

Source: IndiaFM.com

Na Jaane Koii.....

Amidst volatility the markets have slipped in deep red. The markets ended weak after a choppy session with the BSE Sensex closing at 452.82 points down 10,938.61 levels below the 11,000 mark.

In intra-day trade, it slipped to a low of 10,799 levels. The market tried to gain some momentum during the day but the due to heavy selling and some disappointing Q4 results, it again slipped in deep red.

Now all eyes will be on the stock indices on Monday. The BSE Sensex had nosedived 1279 points approximately in the last two days, the highest-ever absolute fall for the index.

Reacting to the Thursday's losses, Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram said on Friday that the crash had been a "manufactured crisis". Even he mentioned that the government is not looking FII’s as traders and they will be considered only as investors. Even this promise was not enough for the market to rise.

The question which comes to my mind is that “What should retail investors do at this moment of time?” Whether they should continue holding the stocks, hoping that by next week, the markets will flourish again. Or they should sell their stocks because sensex can go down further. “What will be the future of small investors?”

How much correction is still needed in the Sensex? Or till what time we’ll continue fearing from Black Monday, Torrid Thursday or Freaky FryDay. The last and the most important question is that how this crash will effect the future of Aam Aadmi….


Please Note: I’m neither an investor nor a trader. But try to follow the markets closely because of my interests.