Bye Bye Lalit Modi...

Knowing how the Indian corruption system works, Lalit Modi will be eased out of his job soon. An MP like Shashi Tharoor cannot pull the strings that caused the initial auction to be cancelled, there are bigger fish in this murky pond. Those folks are not happy that Shashi Tharoor was outed; now the income tax department will find thousands of irregularities in Modi's bank account. I hope Sharad Pawar is still on Modi's side. If he is not, Modi may be out even before the third season of IPL is over. Hopefully is was the NCP leader Sharad Pawar that asked Modi to out the Congress leadership group that was trying to take over an IPL franchise.

That particular Congress leadership group has already made it's move. Modi will now be labeled as a tax cheat and kicked out and will probably end up in jail for a short period. The Delhi franchise that is close to Modi is already in trouble; they have already been hit with crores of tax liabilities and fines. The tax system is India is a complete joke; it will now take around 20 years for these folks to prove their innocence. At which point, they will get their money back, without any interest.

Hopefully this particular shadow group is not bigger than Pawar; at this point, it does look like these are really big politicians dragging Modi to the ground. Sharad Pawar will get his revenge during the next set of Maharashtra elections. The IPL will go on without Lalit Modi, but it will just not be the same sense of adventure and excitement.

Corrupt sons of soil all over the Indian soil!

In a very convoluted way, Raj Thackeray is asking son of the soils not to be corrupt. By requesting them to not issue fake certificates in Maharashta. Domicile and ration card authorities earn millions of rupees during the medical and engineering admission process in India. People are ready to pay tens of thousands to avoid lakhs of capitation rupees in many cases.

But the paradox is that sons of the soil fight over these low paying jobs just for the corruption money. A municipal school teacher teaching English is there to take her daily rest and relaxation. Asking them to shape up is not going to cut it. If you want honest officials, you have to open these jobs to a merit based admission process and provide good salaries. And stop stuffing these posts with sons and daughters of the soil that happen to know some politically connected person.

The one good(?) thing about these corrupt officials is that they do not care as to who is on the other side of the table; Maharashtrian or outsider. If you do not have the proper documentation to get the certificates, you have to pay up even if your last name happens to be Mumbaikar, Nagarkar, Tendulkar, Agarkar or Wadkar. Paisa nikal, phir baat kar! Soil does not matter to these officials, only cold cash does. That is where the sons of soils all over the country get their percentage. And this is how the leaders of political parties get their riches too. Corruption begins at the top and percolates to the bottom.