Corporates benefit from taxpayer but shy of social duties

May 7, 2007 on 4:09 pm | In News - English | 2 Comments

New Delhi, May 1 : Madhu Goud Yaskhi, often dubbed an ‘NRI MP’ as he left a flourishing law practice in New York to enter parliament, has criticised corporates for enjoying “all kinds of benefits from taxpayers’ money” while shying away from extending even basic facilities to poorer sections of society.

Pointing out that the much talked about GDP growth was restricted only to a few major cities, Yaskhi, Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh’s Nizamabad, said: “We are seeing 9.2 percent GDP growth and only fewer sections of these industrial houses are going all over the globe and purchasing companies.

“But what is their responsibility in terms of India? What are they doing in education and health sectors?” he asked while participating in a discussion on the Finance Bill Monday.

Referring to Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy’s objections against reservations for other backward classes (OBCs) in higher educational institutions, Yaskhi said: “They need reservation when it comes to land purchasing. They (Infosys management) requested the Andhra Pradesh government to give 500 acres of land for developing as their latest campus. The current market rate of the land is Rs.100 billion, but they wanted it for Rs.800 million.”

Yaskhi, who worked in the United States for 15 years and gave up American citizenship before contesting the Lok Sabha elections, said an average US household spends about $150 monthly for poor people. “When one of the richest person in the country - Sunil Bharati Mittal of Bharati Communication, who bought a telecom giant recently, was asked about (Microsoft CEO) Bill Gates’ contribution of $300 millions to AIDS project in India, he said he was too young to retire.

“This is the response of the corporate sector, which claim all kinds of benefits,” he said.

The MP also questioned tax benefits to the IT sector as it contributes only five percent growth rate. He said the government should focus more on the manufacturing sector, which creates employment.

Yaskhi also urged the government to ensure the effective implementation of the welfare schemes it had introduced for the poor and the weaker sections. Quoting the government reports he said. “According to the reports of December 2006, only 13 departments have spent just 40 percent of the allocated money.”

“Out of the Rs.25.25 trillion money allotted, only Rs. 13.64 trillion has been spent in nine months,” he said. “This is a wastage of taxpayer’s money.”

Sourc: IANS

From bottle washer to head cook!

April 9, 2007 on 3:40 pm | In News - English | 1 Comment

 

 

   Anoothi Vishal / New Delhi April 08, 2007  

 

Madhu Goud Yaskhi, the only NRI MP in the current Lok Sabha, on cuisine from his home state.

What makes a well-settled professional making his millions in Manhattan want to come back to India; to a Naxal-affected district and jump into the chaos that we call electoral politics? Madhu Goud Yaskhi is the only NRI MP in the present Lok Sabha.

He represents Nizamabad (a constituency that not many wanted to touch), but behind the hectic jetsetting Delhi-Hyderabad-boondocks-and-back lifestyle, almost incessant phone conversations and the Indian politico’s trademark garb, there exists a fairly normal, harried working man we can all identify with.

A lawyer by profession, Yaskhi has one of the biggest firms specialising in corporate immigration in the US and even though he is now based in India, he maintains a virtual office, working through nights very often to meet deadlines.

On the day we catch him, however, it is politics that engrosses him. He is just back from a SAARC meet, is trying to catch fellow MP Jaya Prada on the phone — it’s apparently her birthday — but is good humoured enough to cook us a typical meal because we’ve learnt that while in the US, he ran a Hyderabadi restaurant, among other things.

“Bhagara pulao is what traditional wedding feasts would have; biryani was rich man’s food,” he tells me, then gives out a recipe, and another one for an innovative chicken curry (using buttermilk instead of the traditional “heavier” yoghurt) to go along with it, not to mention a quick one for khubani ka meetha (stewed apricots).

Almost as soon as we will have finished the meal, he would have to run to catch a flight to his hometown. There’s a meeting to attend, followed by dinner on a boat on the Hussain Sagar Lake, though Yaskhi has to be back in Delhi the next day! He is happy about the dinner but sad “because I won’t go home” to a doctor wife and two kids.

“I started off washing the dishes,” Yaskhi smiles. Not professionally but as a student sharing an apartment with two others in the US. The other two would cook, Yaskhi would clear up. Slowly, he picked up enough to assemble a sandwich.

But it was only once he started working that he picked up many more recipes, out of necessity, from his mother and sisters, but some also his own innovations — a quick dal makhni, a quicker spinach with cream cheese.

Finally, he started a restaurant — not too originally called Masala — since “at that time there were few Indian ones and these were run by Bangladeshis. The food was nothing like what you’d get in Hyderabad or Delhi.” Yaskhi’s restaurant, on the other hand, served several kinds of biryani, haleem and curries.

Today, Masala has been sold off. The NRI has returned. Because despite the thriving practice, it was not enough. After all, “how many millions can you make, how many more houses can you buy?” Food is another matter!

Pitroda stirs quota storm among MPs

March 15, 2007 on 1:29 pm | In News - English | 2 Comments

Nistula Hebbar / New Delhi March 15, 2007
Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda felt the political sting of some commission members opposing reservation when he arrived to lecture a group of Parliamentarians today.

He had barely finished his lecture on the Knowledge Commission’s plans with regard to education, when Dr Karan Singh Yadav, Congress MP from Alwar in Rajasthan, questioned Pitroda as to how he could oppose reservation for Other Backward Castes.

Knowledge Commission Member Andre Beteille had quit the commission over the issue.

“How can you oppose reservation? Aren’t you aware that for over 2000 years the backward castes have been oppressed,” he said. He was joined by Congress MP from Nizamabad Madhu Goud Yaskhi and Francis Fanthome, former chairperson of the ICSE board.

Yaskhi wanted to know why the government was over eager to oblige private entrepreneurs by giving them incentives, but did not do the same for those who really needed a leg-up.

“Infosys has been given land in Hyderabad at throwaway prices just to ensure 500 jobs, something for which the company would have hunted for local talent in any case,” he said.

When Yaskhi persisted with his line of questioning, especially on the issue of corporate getting incentives and not fulfilling social responsibilities, Pitroda was forced to agree with him. “You are right, why don’t you all (politicians) go after them,” he said.

The lecture was part of a series initiated by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

Parliament fracas a threat to federal structure: MPs

March 15, 2007 on 1:27 pm | In News - English | 1 Comment

MPs cutting across party lines have squarely criticised a scuffle between the leaders of two ruling allies in parliament, saying they should have acted in a more dignified manner.

From correspondents in Delhi, India, 14 Mar 2007 - (www.indiaenews.com)

MPs cutting across party lines have squarely criticised a scuffle between the leaders of two ruling allies in parliament, saying they should have acted in a more dignified manner.

While the incident in the Lok Sabha Tuesday has embarrassed most members, one opposition MP has even called it a threat to the country’s federal structure.

‘If we were attacked by external forces Dec 13 (2001), it was under attack from within on March 13. It was an attack on the very basic federalism of India,’ said Biju Janata Dal MP Tathagata Satpathy.

MPs belonging to the Left parties and DMK stunned the Lok Sabha Tuesday when they came to blows over the location of a maritime university. Marshals were called in as the members pushed and pulled each other when Surface Transport Minister T.R. Baalu of the DMK stood up to introduce a bill to set it up in Chennai.

‘It was not a mere fight between the two parties. It was an engineered fight between two states and it poses a grave danger to our federalism,’ Satpathy said.

Left parties have apologised for the incident.

‘We regret what happened in the house yesterday. It was unfortunate and we said sorry,’ Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Ajoy Chakroborty said.

Madhu Goud Yaskhi, an MP of the ruling Congress from Nizamabad, felt that in the recent past there has been a trend of ministers in national coalitions behaving like regional parties.

‘Centre ministers are supposed to be taking care of national interests. They cannot behave like regional parties. Each minister should be able to take care of national interests,’ Yaskhi said.

Samajwadi Party MP Salim Sherwani said: ‘Every MP has the right to raise the issues he wants. But he should do it in a dignified manner.’

Criticising the incident, opposition leaders pointed out that this was the first time that members belonging to the ruling alliance had indulged in a physical fight over a bill, which should have been brought to the house after evolving a consensus.

Sherwani said the incident revealed how ‘fragile’ the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition was. ‘I am not saying that the incident would bring down the government. But it reflects how fragile the coalition is.’

Yaskhi and Sherwani also expressed concerned about the public perception of MPs.

‘The MPs’ attendance on normal days is only 30-50 percent and on top of that, they end up fighting for everything. It reduces the credibility of parliamentary procedures,’ Yaskhi said.

Although Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani declared that there was a ‘civil war’ in the UPA, his alliance partner and former minister Sharad Yadav felt such an incident was ‘normal’ in coalition politics.

‘It is a vast country. Each one has his or her own sensitivities. It is bound to happen in parliament politics,’ Yadav said.

A minister said: ‘We should forget what happened in the past and move on. This kind of confusion is quite natural although physical altercation should have been avoided.’

(Staff Writer, © IANS)