A condensed version of all the manifesto’s can be read here.  

Analysis of the manifestos can be summed up in one line.

All proposed policies by all parties = Rentseeking

As always there are also some WTF quotable gems here.

1. Congress’s Food Agriculture and Land Policy-”A new Land Acquisition Act to protect landowners.” (emphasis added)
2. CPI’s Defence and Foreign Policy-”No strategic policy with the US.” 
3. BJP’s Gender Policy-”Eliminate gender discrimination in wages.”
4. RJD’s Terrorism and Internal Security Policy-”Extend anti terror laws to include communalism.”

Today and tomorrow Tehelka is organising the Summit of the Powerless in New Delhi.

Irony is that the keynote speaker is Presdent Kalam. To see who are apparently representing the powerless, here is the list of speakers.

JULIET:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;

Or would it?

I have always wondered why we are changing the names of our cities. We are apparently freeing ourselves from the shackles of British cultural enslavement. The Economist writes about changing Banglore to Bengalooru.

So much for getting over the colonial hangover when the first step after announcing the change was to figure out how to spell it property in English.

And why stop at only British enslavement? What’s keeping us from changing Delhi to Indraprasta?

Last week I heard something on the news that really made me laugh. Which is quite a change from the usual irritation I feel when I see what our government has been up to.

The Ministry of Health has declared 90% of street food unfit for comsumption. So it proposes to start a new program where it will train all the street vendors in basic hygiene and cooking. The general plan is that at the end of this program the vendor would get some kind of certificate or licence which is required to sell food off the street.

So now we cannot eat food unless it is approved by the central Government!

All this from a Ministry which cannot control or report an epidemic accurately.