Time and again, our Indian politicians are in the limelight for all kind of weird reasons. This time media cameras caught three Karnataka sitting MLAs and ministers in the government watching porn video clip in their Cellphone. Wait this gets even more interesting. Guess where they were caught, right in the middle of the Karnataka assembly where there was a heated debate going on. And one more interesting fact, one minister is in charge for woman and child welfare. What else worse can happen. Initially they denied that they didnt do anything wrong and when this issue went viral, they were forced to resign and after much of arm twisting, the ruling BJP decided to keep them out of assembly until the investigation is over. What else more worst could happen to the world's second largest democracy. It is a shame on our forefathers who spent their life and money on getting freedom for this great country which is now ruled by the most corrupt government that India has ever seen and like an icing on the cake, ministers watching porn in the assembly. How low can these people, the so called politicans go and how many more times they will bring down the pride of our country. Looks like even a million Anna Hazares wont be able to change the fate of this great country!!

Another news that is has created lot attention is the recent tussle between Ex-ISRO Cheif Madhavan Nair and the govt. The Govt has accused Madhavan Nair that he and his team's decision to go with one particular company on a Specturm deal has caused a loss of several million Ruppees. Wait.. did we say Spectrum deal? doesnt it sound similar to the 2G spectrum, yes it is almost the same but these are related to research and defence spectrum. The Govt sent a note stating that Madhavan Nair and his then team is not eligible to hold any govt position until this issue is resolved. The Govt cited several reports from CAG, other investigating agencies and claimed that Madhavan and his team are the prime accused in this scandal and they should be punished if proven guilty. Why this rush to punish or detain these scientist when the very same govt took its sweet time to take any action against Suresh Kalmadi - Common Wealth games scandal and the infamous A.Raja on the 2G spectrum scandal. Is it because both of them are politicians with political clout that is very difficult to break and punish them. Those scandals also had the very same investigating agencies reports claiming that they did something wrong but took months and months and a very stubborn opposition party, the govt agreed to take action against them. So why this Kolaveri against Madhavan and his team? probably the ruling Cong I and its leaders are upset that they didnt get a share of this loot and that is why they are so eager to take action?

Another year will be passing by us soon. Years fly by so fast that its hard to believe that we just celebrated the beginning of the new century and here we are one decade into the new century. Like the past years, this year has given a good competition to the other years in terms of events and important changes. Here is a run down on some of them.

Feb 11 - Arab Spring - Egypt Uprising - This event marked a domino effect in the Arab nation and the word Arab Spring was coined after Egyptians took to the street in protest against their ruler Hosni Mubarak. This protest also marked an era of heavy involvement of social media like Facebook and Twitter in spreading the news and gathering support. Once Hosni resigned, this uprising spread like fire in other Arab nations like Syria, Lybia, Bahrain.

March 11 - Japan Earthquake The world watched in horror the ghastly videos of how huge Tsunamis engulfed Japan after a massive 9.1 earthquake. Millions were left homeless, Hundreds lost their life and went through a nerve racking period when the nuclear power plant was hit by the floods and was going down. But it also showed the resilience and determination of the Japanese people who stood back on their feet and started rebuilding what they lost.

May 1 - US announces Osama’s death In a late night covet operation in Pakistan, the elite US Commandos stormed through a hideout of Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden and killed him in the operation. Pictures of President Obama and his advisors sitting in a huddle room watching the operation was one of the top hit pictures in the Internet. Even though that marked the end of a dreaded terrorist, rift in the relations between US and Pakistan grew wider and now in troubled waters.

July 21 - End of Space Shuttle program - After completing 135 missions to the space starting in 1981, the Space shuttle program came to an end after the final trip to the space station. NASA hasnt come up with any replacement mission but this marks the end of an important step into space mission.

In India, the biggest events were the 2G Spectrum scam which even today doesnt have an exact figure of how much the govt lost but due to immense pressure from the media, people and opposition parties, the UPA Govt had to sack the then Telecom Minister A Raja and put him behind bars. The regional party DMK took a big hit when its leader Karunanidhi’s daughter was arrested and put in Tihar jail for almost 6 months and to make it more frustrating, her bail petition was denied twice giving a real test to the political clout and power Mr.Karunanidhi had. It also marked the end to their rule in Tamil Nadu as their arch rival J Jayalitha came back to power with absolute majority.

Anna Hazare and his fight to get the right Lokpal bill took a big turn again because of the social media like Facebook and Twitter. Support for his cause poured from all quarters of the world and that really put a pressure on the govt to do something on the Lokpal bill. Even today, the draft that has been submitted by the Govt is no where near to what Anna and his team wants but this is a big step by the govt and a big victory for Anna and the people of India. A very corrupt govt is very wary of proposing a stronger Lokpal bill because if that bill gets passed almost every minister in the current UPA govt will be behind bars. So they are playing the spoil sport and submitted a useless bill in the Parliament which every opposition party is going to oppose. A long road to success lies in front of Anna, his team and people of India but this is atleast a first baby step towards that.

Based on Anna’s success in getting support via social media, UPA govt thought of a silly idea of trying to censor social media and minister Kapil Sibal wanted to bring about some kind of censorship on social media in the pretence to protect people sentiment. What people sentiment? no one knows, only Kapil and UPA govt knows. After a furor of push back and media outcry that idea was dropped.

West Bengal, after nearly 30 years, has sent CPI home and voted Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress to power and making Mamta the first woman CM of West Bengal. But we may have to wait and watch if she is bringing the real change she promised or is she just yet another opportunistic politician.

Several other political issues came up and some of them died and some of them are still going on. Telegana issue, part of Andhra Pradesh asking for a separate state that will include Hyderabad and it caused lot of tension and unrest. But the bottomline, this unrest clearly put Hyderabad out off the list of prospective cities for growth in IT industry.

Mullaperiyar Dam - Another issue created by opportunistic politics. Political parties in Kerala in order to win some brownie points among the villagers living along the Mullaperiyar dam has created this unnecessary issue that the dam is unsafe, it might fall any time causing a big havoc and a new dam has to be built. Even after experts and supreme court has rejected their proposal and clearly stated that the dam is safe and infact the water level can be raised up to 142cm, Kerala politicians have kindled unnecessary unrest among the people and adding fuel to the fire is Tamil Nadu politicians like Vaiko who threatened openly that Tamil people will block all roads and travel in Kerala. This is just plain old opportunistic politics playing with people’s sentiments.

With ever growing terrorist attacks, opportunistic politics, corruption, increasing economic trouble in the European countries, recession worries , one may wonder how the new year is going to be and what is in store for everyone in 2012. One can only hope that the new year will bring some luck and change that will help economic growth, increase jobs. Hope is life and Bharabeat wishes everyone a very HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!!!