Munshi Premchand and his Journalist.

Letter to the Editor.

Sir,

A few points about the statement of  Mr Pallam Raju , Minister Of State for Defence .He had said,"It is un-healthy and does not auger well for the Ministry or the forces."

Firstly. When a person has exhausted every available statutory and official channels  available to him for the redressal of his grievance , if not satisfied , as a last resort approaches the SC. There is nothing "un-healthy" about it.Even if that person happens to be the Chief Of Army Staff , it still does not make it unhealthy , but is a natural progression in our system , to seek justice and to get the grievance redressed.

Secondly . The Minister should have included the Country but omitted the Ministry when he said it does not auger well for the "Ministry or the forces".Yes, when a Chief of Defence Services has to approach the SC to seek justice it surely does not auger well for the forces as it is likely to adversely affect the morale of the forces and that is  not well for the Country. So far as the Ministry is concerned, it means the "babus" . Nothing bad ever happens to the babus. One can be certain that even if the Chief wins the case in SC , nothing will happen to the babu on whose noteings  decision of such vital and far reaching consequences was arrived at.  So the Ministry would be unaffected. 

Thirdly . Why is every one so surprised at this development.The writing has been on the wall for some time . Such a thing had to happen.Only surprise is that it did not happen sooner.The "older generation" of officers was  taught and brought up in the services "to obey and to follow". Even "in service" applications for redressal of grievance were rather rare.The wars of 1962 , 1965 , 1971 and Kargil operation did help to maintain, to certain extent , the respect for and the authority of the defence forces.Unfortunately tnings have changed for the worst.Those who have National interest at heart and are following the relations vis-a-vis the babus and the defence forces would not have failed to notice how , over the last 65 years the babus have succeed in undermining and diminishing the authority , the prestige,the rights and the "precedence"of the Denence Forces . Up to 5 th pay commission . the older generation officers , though not happy, never went public.Things have changed since then , The babus and the Govt got a jolt when , after every thing failed,the Defence forces went public with their dissatisfaction with the recommendations of the 6 th pay commossion.It is high time the Govt and the Politicians woke up to the mechanisation of the babus and start giving  credit and the respect to the to the defence forces which they richly deserve .

PM Velankar 

After a long tome some thing got published the very next day , 20-01-12.No cuts at all :-).
Editor added three odd lines at the end .

Letter to Editor.

Sir ,

A news item published in 28 December 2011 issue of The Hitvada caught my attention.

It was about award of two and half years in jail and imposition of fine of Rs 10,000/- for taking bribe of Rs 300/-

Out of curiosity I just googled for "corrupt  Indian politicians". The search revealed 4,490,000 entries . The figure was mind boggling . Further search at wiki link ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_politicians_in_India_charged_with_corruption ) gave incomplete list of Indian politicians charged with corruption.

Few of them were acquitted for various reasons.

As given in the above link Sukh Ram was tried for unaccounted sum of Rs 3.6 Lakh and sentenced to 3 years in jail.For another scam when he was Telecom Minister he was sentenced to 5 years in jail . In this case amount of money involved is not known to me.

Taking  the punishment mated out to the hapless DDA official as datum, Sukh Ram should have got 2400 years of jail and a fine of 96 Lakhs.Mind boggling !!

Suresh Kalmadi is being tried for alleged scandal of Rs 95 crores . If ( and it is big IF ) found guilty he should get jail for approximately 62000 years and a fine of Rs 2850 crores.MIND BOGGLING !!!

A Raja and others charged with alleged corruption of 176000 crores, If ( and it is big IF ) found guilty , would get a jail sentence of 16600000000 years and a fine of Rs 5280000 crores. MIND BOGGLING !!!

It would indeed be interesting to see the amount of Jail sentence and fine  these worthies are awarded , If  ever they are found guilty or may be they have different laws for the rich and the politicians. 

PM Velankar,Nagpur.

  

Hotel Gasthof Fuchs,Matrei am Brenner ,Innsbruck.

After dinner at Sahib restaurant we proceeded to Hotel Gasthof Fuchs which is in municipality of Matrei am Brenner about 17 kms south west of Innsbruck .
Reached there by about 21:30 . The route , the countryside as well as the location of the hotel was picturesque surrounding.
The hotel itself was old style built mainly of timber , with timber flooring . No air-conditioners and for heating there were radiators. Hotel had photogenic qualities . Our photos have turned out quite well.

(you can see enlarged photos by clicking on them. Click "back" arrow to return to blog)

As I said , Old Style Alpine Hotel.Do not miss the Sun Dial .

Interior Decor on the first floor.

The Reception.

No Lifts , the staircase .

Picturesque surroundings.

                                        

                        At the hotel

Well maintained flower beds.

Innsbruck.Austria,Europe Trip.

First place to be seen in Innsbruck was " The Golden roof ".As the coach could not go to Golden roof , We were dropped near Tiroler LandsTheatre in Innsbruck from where it was only a short walk . 
Of all the things it started raining .we had no choice but to part with some dough. Topkars  also wanted a umbrella so we went and bought an umbrella for 5 Euros. Later it stopped raining and did not rain throughout our trip  ;-(
It appeared that other than " Golden Roof " there was no plan to visit any other place as we wandered about aimlessly and were generally led to where the coach was waiting to take us to Sahib restaurant for dinner after which we were to go to the hotel where night stay was planned. 
But before that little gen on Golden roof . 
It is a three storied balcony with with 2657 fire gilded copper tiles . It was built in 1500 AD for Maximilian I , Holy Roman Emperor who would sit facing the main square where sport tournaments and other public functions were held.Our photos :-   

(you can see enlarged photos by clicking on them. Click "back" arrow to return to blog)

The Golden Roof.

Golden Roof.

Imperial Palace ,Innsbruck.

Helbling House , Innsbruck.

Buildings in square of Anna's Column.

Another view Imperial Palace.

 Annasäule, Anna's Column,Innsbruck.

 Two views of 

Bridge on River "Inn"

Statue of Maxmilian I ln background Modern Sculpture near Imperial Palace .

 Modern Sculpture near Imperial Palace .

Two views.

 Sahib Restaurant , Innsbruck.

On the way to Innsburck, Europe Trip .

From San Marco Square we had reached back Terminal Tronchetto by 12:55. Got in the coach without wasting any time and proceeded to Rangoli Restaurant at Padova.
Lunch was over by 14:30 and we set course for Innsbruck,Austria.
After covering a distsnce of about 350 KMs.Reached there by 19:00.
The route passes through some of the most beautiful countryside . Castles and big Villas from the past can be seen all over Austria and that part of Italy, and our route had its share of these Castles and Villas. Take a ride from Rangoli to Tiroler LandsTheatre in Innsbruck where we were dropped for further sight seeing.

(you can see enlarged photos by clicking on them. Click "back" arrow to return to blog)

Rangoli Restaurant Padova . We had lunch here on 12 May before proceeding to Innsbruck.

The Castle of Sabbionara (also Castle of Avio), near village of Avio.

Beautiful mountain ranges en route  Innsbruck.

Castel Beseno, Besenello, Italy

Castello di Presule, Province of Bolzano-Bozen, Italy.

Outskirt & subrubs ,
We are almost there in Innsbruck.