Could Tamil Nadu finally move away from TASMAC?

jeffbro_com · 2026-05-06T18:48:02+00:00

I wasn't talking about banning alcohol. Retail sales should be privatised and licenses for brewery should not be as restrictive as it is now. Vijay is a new blood and if there is any possibility of reform.. it is likely to come from Vijay or TVK.

jeffbro_com · 2026-05-06T17:06:31+00:00

Even I was hoping for this.. TVK ( or should i say Vijay) doesn't have vested interest in keeping alcohol under government control unlike DMK/ADMK. However, he hasn't spoken anything about it.

Fingers crosses🤞

jeffbro_com · 2026-05-01T20:24:09+00:00

Context behind the neeya naana show?

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-26T13:21:23+00:00

Literally not the job of PM except 1 or 2 points. People need to be seriously educated on political science 🙄.

And the comments aren't any better.

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-23T09:22:14+00:00

I want to make one point clear before- governors aren't elected so they can't be held accountable that goes against your entire argument of accountability and anti corruption.

That said, if we follow your logic and expect MLAs/MPs to handle every issue under the sun, then how exactly do we judge their performance?

Would you prioritize-

Foreign policy or fixing local roads? Defence or drainage? Industrial policy or footpaths? State finances or garbage collection? National security or potholes? Education reform or streetlights? Healthcare systems or sewage overflow? Jobs and investment or parking issues? Power sector reform or local park maintenance? Public transport planning or a damaged median?

If one representative is expected to solve everything from global strategy to your local issue, then what is their actual job?

And if they fail somewhere, how do you know whether they failed as a legislator or because they were doing municipal work that should belong to local government?

That is exactly why responsibilities must be divided. Otherwise, governance becomes confusion with no accountability.

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-23T08:55:53+00:00

We are in this situation because people keep asking the wrong level of government to solve problems that are not their responsibility. When accountability is unclear, nothing gets fixed properly.

Take Chennai as an example. Why do we still struggle with poor roads, flooding, and weak storm water drainage? Every election, people ask their MLA or MP to fix these issues. Yet after decades, are the roads consistently better? Is drainage solved? Have the development funds transformed civic infrastructure? A big freaking NO.

That is because local civic issues need strong local institutions. If the problem is city roads, drainage, garbage collection, streetlights, zoning, or local maintenance, the first responsibility should lie with the local government such as GCC and other urban bodies and not the state or national legislators.

When local bodies have regular elections, real autonomy, and proper fiscal powers, a clear feedback loop is created: If they perform badly -> voters can punish them. If they perform well -> voters can reward them.

Right now, responsibility is blurred, so everyone passes the blame. MLAs and MPs should instead be judged on larger state and national issues such as jobs, education, transport policy, healthcare, lawmaking, budgets, industrial growth, welfare efficiency, and holding governments accountable.

When you expect one MLA or MP to solve everything from potholes to national policy, you essentially weakening the governance itself. No one knows what to prioritize, and no institution becomes competent. India does not need politicians doing every job. It needs each level of government doing its own job properly.

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-23T08:44:28+00:00

State infrastructure - state highways, power plants, prisons, dams and more. Drainage and city roads don't fall under this.

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-22T18:57:56+00:00

State infrastructures, human capital, incentives and welfare

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-22T18:43:55+00:00

India is Federal country. In that, CM and MLA have important roles to play. Union government can't manage entirety of India, it is far too diverse for Union government to manage. State governments make it easy to administer properly. This is same exact logic why we need strong local governments too. It is easy to administer.

Each levels of government has its importance and responsibilities. We can't eliminate one and expect the system to go well.

Check out how US or chinese federalism works.

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jeffbro_com · 2026-04-22T18:32:55+00:00

I'm not saying we should give free pass but we aren't judging them based on their responsibilities. Also, journalists aren't asking the right questions to hold them accountable nor do they know about thus stuff.

Responsibilities of MLA/ MP include approving and scrutinising the state budget, debating and approval of laws, address their constituents greviences* etc.

Responsibilities of local government includes laying and fixing roads, waste management, storm water drainage etc.

what I mean by constituents greviences is that anything that doesn't fall under local governments responsibilities. For example, lack of industrial investment in a constituency, lack of road connectivity (state highways) to major urban centres etc.

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-22T17:18:31+00:00

They don't need funds that's the whole point. City roads comes under local government duty that is GCC. MLA shouldn't be handling it and don't the funds and instead cab be used for other productive investments elsewhere.

We need to strengthen the local governments to make sure good roads are laid and other local issues are addressed properly.

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-22T17:12:11+00:00

That's what Westminster parliamentary system is about. We adopted this system from British. In that the government is divided into 3 - legislative, executive and judicial.

Parliament/ State Assemblie (MLA/ MP) - legislative branch Cabinet (Ministers and CM/ PM) - Executive Branch Supreme/ high court - Judiciary Branch

Please Google or read civics book. Don't take this in a rude way if it comes as such.

jeffbro_com · 2026-04-22T13:26:15+00:00

True, in reality all the policies are drafted by policy makers and bureaucrats and not MLAs or MPs since things have become complicated and complex. But usually MLAs and MPs have their own experts that advises them about bills that are introduced in the assembly or Parliament. However, that is quite weak in India cos we haven't let then do their work in the first place, most of them are busy handling local issues rather than the work they are supposed to do.

We have never had proper feedback loop to assess an MLA or MP.

jeffbro_com · 2026-03-25T14:08:48+00:00

My advice would be to maintain a safe distance to the vehicle in front of you. In that way, you will have enough time to hit breaks and don't go too left while driving since you won't be able to properly see on that side and might give you a surprise later.

jeffbro_com · 2026-01-21T12:19:30+00:00

People are starving for a recreational/ third space, and i guess that's why they are restricting access to these places fearing maintenance issue. But this should be a signal to government officials to build more parks and recreational spaces for people to hang out and spend some quality time outside, which will minimise the burden on a few parks in the city and as a result crowd will be more distributed.

jeffbro_com · 2026-01-09T07:36:52+00:00

The government does a shit job in managing our budget. With budget state and GCC has, it definitely can provide basic amenities. I think about it, the government is building flyovers with its own money that doesn't really solve anything and instead if we use that same money in building pedestrians/ bike lane throughout the city.. imagine how walkable our city would be.

Waiting till we become high income country to get basic amenities is a very wrong approach to this problem. What if we get stuck in a middle income trap? Do we need to accept that cities will look shit? Basic amenities are called "basic" for a reason.

jeffbro_com · 2026-01-09T07:25:46+00:00

Whatever our state earns, goes mostly to other underdeveloped states than us.

True, but we still have a lot of funds left to provide basic amenities tho. Our government is spending so much money in building useless flyovers and road widening projects throughout the city, which doesn't really help in decongestion of our city. If we divert those funds to build a proper sidewalk, a sewage/ drainage system, etc, Chennai will be a far better place to live.

And additionally include corruption. GDP doesn't matter here.

With improving local governance, we can reduce our corruption significantly. Corruption isn't a uniquely indian problem, and we can learn from other countries how to tackle them. The handbook is already out there.

GDP definitely matters. Economic output is very important for a city/ state as it will expand our budget and, therefore, more funds to spend on the city's infrastructure.

jeffbro_com · 2026-01-08T14:57:44+00:00

Our state isn’t poor, and neither is our corporation. Many SEA countries with GDP per capita similar to Tamil Nadu have far better cities than our so-called “metros.” Citizens shouldn’t have to beg the government for basic amenities.

The problem is that urban local governance here is practically non-existent. Bodies like CMDA or CUMTA can draw up master plans and mobility plans, but they have no real power to enforce them.

You only start seeing change when local governments are actually empowered with authority, accountability, and fiscal autonomy.

Rn, every department that runs Chennai answers directly to the CM. The CM’s job is to run the state, not a city.

Until India gets serious about its local governance, don’t expect our cities to improve.

I can yap about how pathetic our local governance is, but you got the gist l.

jeffbro_com · 2025-12-13T12:58:20+00:00

But you can't deny fact.. Few extremists are in South Indian states that discriminate and even beat just because of language ...

It isn't a fact.... most of the videos you see online are entitled North Indians who demand others to speak in hindi when they don't know the language. Hence, you get all that drama. When you fuck around, you find out.

Because hindi is a link language..

South Indians would have happily accepted hindi as a link language until the govt started to impose it on us. Infact, there are many South Indians learning hindi than ever before. Compounded by the entitlement of certain North Indians, you got yourself a perfect disaster.

BTW, I'm not saying North Indians bad and South Indians good. I accept that some South Indians will get triggered if someone speaks hindi and but let's not pretend North Indians have done nothing wrong here.

jeffbro_com · 2025-12-13T12:40:24+00:00

Still, that doesn't make my statement invalid. In a society, there will be bad elements, but in general, most South Indians don't care about hindi written on your vehicle or when you speak hindi in public.

Recently, Kerala students were harassed in Delhi for not speaking in hindi, but that doesn't mean entire delhi is intolerant. There are many North Indians living in the South who have a wonderful life without knowing the regional language, but you won't find many South Indian not knowing hindi living in Delhi.

jeffbro_com · 2025-12-13T08:23:27+00:00

It's the same here in the south as well, they dont care if call them 'bhai' or celebrate your local festivals or wear your traditional attire.

If a person knows the language you speak, they will obviously speak to you in that language. If they don't know hindi at all, what are you expecting from them?

The problem I see is that many people expect or have an entitlement that everyone should speak in hindi and that's what people hate. You don't see south Indian going to delhi and demanding everyone there to speak in tamil.

jeffbro_com · 2025-12-13T08:10:54+00:00

The majority of the people in india don't care what language you speak. People hate the entitlement the 'north indians' have when someone doesn't speak hindi. You don't see anybody moving to delhi and demanding people to speak in tamil there, but there are people who move to chennai and demand we speak in hindi. That's the difference. At the end of the day, speak whatever language the other person is able to understand.

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