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Vice President Hamid Ansari has stated the obvious when he said that our legislatures are losing their credibility. His anguish at the manner in which our elected representatives conduct themselves with little concern for the voters was echoed by the Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, last year. But, the worrying part is that our political worthies do not seem particularly concerned about criticism, even when it comes from the highest quarter within their own ranks. We are now so used to seeing our MPs trading insults and disrupting Parliament even as crucial Bills hang fire that we have ceased to be outraged. But let us not forget that we are paying for these shenanigans to the tune of Rs 20,000 per minute lost. Many parliamentarians do not even bother to show up for the mandatory six hours a day when the House is in session. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99.   The V-P’s plea that the sittings must be at least 130 days a year as opposed to the 102 it was in the last session is well taken. In many Western countries, Parliament is in session for at least 140 days a year and that too without any unseemly breaks. Now our MPs may say that since they are in the business of serving the nation and not in the game for any monetary benefit, they may be forgiven the occasional lapse. In fact, they have long lamented that they are so poorly paid and this is why the Salary, Allowances and Pension of MP Act has been amended at least 26 times since 1954. While an MP’s salary may be only Rs 12,000 per month, the perks are nothing to be sneezed at. To give you an idea – Rs 14,000 for office expenses, Rs 3,000 for stationery, Rs 1,000 for franking, Rs 10,000 for secretarial expenses, Rs 10,000 as constituency allowance, Rs 500 per day when Parliament is in session, Rs 8 per km on travel, free first class rail fare for the MP and spouse, 40 first class airfares, free first class travel abroad for work, a sprawling bungalow in Lutyens Delhi for Rs 2,000, free electricity, water, telephones, servants, home maintenance, pension and, last but not least, Rs 2 crore for local area development. Not a bad haul, considering that our parliamentarians’ don’t really have to put themselves out too [...]

Every four years, the world is taken on a roller-coaster ride as Americans cast their vote for the President of the United States. Though votes are also cast to fill vacancies in the Congress, state governorships, and other state and local offices, the story of the quest for the presidency is an all-consuming affair. This year’s race for the White House has everywhere generated more than the usual excitement, and understandably so. For the first time in American history, the Anglo-Saxon white male’s ironclad grip over this office seems to have been put into question. Had Hillary Clinton been the sole Democratic frontrunner, she would already have ‘made history’. All but poised to claim victory as the nominee of the Democratic party, she suddenly found more than a worthy contender in Barrack Obama, who is not only young but, from his father’s side, of African descent. In a country, where nearly one out of every three African American males will, in his lifetime, have had some experience with the criminal justice system, the political ascendancy of Obama is an unexpected political phenomenon. Wire money online to India with Xoom.com for as low as $4.99.   Much to everyone’s surprise, Obama won in Ohio. But if that was supposed to pave the way for his easy nomination as the Democratic Party‘s candidate for the presidency, the voters in New Hampshire robbed him of his advantage. Though the Republican candidates are less colorful by comparison, the race in the Grand Old Party was wide open before John McCain suddenly appeared to all but seal his nomination. All of this is often’ described as a resounding testimony to the vitality of American democracy; and merely serves to confirm Americans in their cherished belief that it is for them to set the benchmark for what constitutes democracy. Many travesties have, of course, been committed in the name of democracy; and it is a chilling thought that the same country that could not conduct fair elections in 2000 and 2004, even requiring the Supreme Court to crown the President, partly justified its assault upon Iraq with the argument that the US was determined to bring democracy to volatile West Asia. Dynastic politics, it was long argued by American and European political scientists, seemed ingrained among Asians and Africans, lesser people r not infused by the sentiment of democracy; though if Hillary Clinton gets elected to [...]