The last Nehruvian statesman

When I heard the news that Bharat Ratna has been awarded to Atal Behari Vajpayee, I had mixed feelings about it. Though a fan of Vajpayee, the sacrosanctity of Bharat Ratna had died some time ago for me. When Indira Gandhi lands it before Ambedkar, and Rajiv Gandhi and Sardar Patel are awarded this "highest civilian award" simultaneously, you can't help but feel disillusioned about it.

That said, Vajpayee was truly a son Mother India would be proud of, a Ratna that makes Mother India shine brighter. He was a true inheritor of the Nehruvian legacy, perhaps the last one. My new found, Bharat Ratna fuelled enthusiasm of going through Vajpayee related videos led me through many speeches of his in the parliament, and most of them had a common underlying theme - his pain at seeing the times change for the worse. His pain at seeing the culture of decency in the parliament chipping away. His pain at seeing the new parliamentarians not realising the sanctity of the parliament which he held sacred. His pain at seeing the erosion of the ideals of the Nehruvian days where every parliamentarian, though never selfless always, never compromised on the principles which could deter the nation and its people. His pain at seeing the parliament become a laughing stock in the eyes of the people.

Sample this video of the time when the Congress led opposition decided to move a no-confidence motion against the NDA Government just for fun, "debated" it for 2 days and then having had enough fun decided to drop the idea. Here an MP creates a ruckus in the parliament demanding an opportunity to speak, interrupting the then Prime Minister Vajpayee's speech. Vajpayee sits down so that the MP be allowed to speak, and what follows is the MP complaining that he doesn't have the mood to speak anymore!!! And then, when finally convinced to speak, well, the less said about what follows the better. And with us voting such MPs to the Lok Sabha, it is shocking to see how well India is doing right now!

Now, it would be short sighted and unfair to single out the said MP as the wrongdoer, when clearly the culture of the parliament had fallen to such depths that such behaviour and speech was assumed to be acceptable by the said MP. And this deterioration of the erstwhile highly principled culture of the parliament is what I feel pained Vajpayee a lot. Those lofty days when the Constituent Assembly created our wonderful constitution despite consisting of many fundamentalists seething with anger over the recent partition related riots were nowhere to be seen in the present day parliament.

What follows in the video is Vajpayee expressing subtly to the parliament about these fallen standards. The 9 point "chargesheet" against the Government which contained superficial, generalised statements rather than specific accusations at the Government was taken to shreds by Vajpayee all the time reminding the House on how such "pointless points" showed how the standard of parliament debate and functioning is falling.

Vajpayee had immense respect for Nehru, and had imbibed in himself the culture of the Nehruvian days. Nehru, despite all his imperfections, was a true patriot and worked hard for the country. Likewise, the leaders and parliamentarians of those early Nehruvian days could never be accused of not being patriots, and though they had different opinions on varied matters, always worked for the country and respected their colleagues. Sadly, such a culture does not exist anymore. And Vajpayee may just have been the last Nehruvian statesman India would ever see.

I would like to end this piece by quoting Vajpayee, which to some extent reflects the Nehruvians' basic principle:
"..... क्योंकि उनके यहाँ विरोधी दल का नेता ऐसे राष्ट्रीय कार्य में भी सहयोग देने के लिए तैयार नहीं होता । वो हर जगह अपने सरकार को गिराने के काम में रेहता है । ये हमारी परम्परा नहीं है, ये हमारी प्रकृति नहीं है । और मैं ये चाहता हूँ की ये परम्परा बनी रहे ये प्रकृति बनी रहे । सत्ता का खेल तो चलेगा । सरकारें आयेंगी  जायेंगी पार्टीयाँ बनेगी बिगड़ेगी । लेकिन ये देश रेहना चाहिए, इस देश का लोकतंत्र अमर रेहना चाहिए । "

P.S : If you were wondering, the "ruckus creating MP" in the first video link is now in Rajya Sabha by BJP support.

P.P.S : The last video link reinforces my opinion that P.V. Narasimha Rao was the best Prime Mininster to serve India after Nehru.

P.P.P.S : Chandrashekhar rocks!! (If you were wondering why - he almost always admonished the ruckus creators in the parliament irrespective of which party they belonged to.)

Of scams, corruption and policies

Yesterday, when I was listening to the speech by the new Prime Minister of India in the parliament, I caught this phrase used by him - "We must change the image of India from 'Scam India' to 'Skilled India'." I started wondering what exactly triggered this image of "Scam India" in people's minds? The CAG reports?

The earliest such instance of a CAG report being used to brand something as a scam extensively by the media was the 2G scam. The number 1760000000000 became the buzz word. The CAG reported that this was the loss to the exchequer based on some assumptions and extrapolations from the 3G spectrum which was auctioned a few months after the 2G spectrum was given away. Since then many such "scams" and the accompanying multi-zero figures became the latest fad in the media and dinner table discussion topics of the disgruntled Indian household. Similarly many SEZ policies like the Adani land deal and the controversy surrounding the soft loan given to Tata in Gujarat have made headlines and have been heavily criticized of late. The question is, is it so simple to just measure such policies on mere face value? Let me tell you a story. 

In a forgotten land, far far away there is a kingdom, which has a benevolent king. There are 500 families living in that kingdom and all are agriculturists, owning on an average, one acre of land. The agriculture there is monsoon based, and the land is also not all that fertile. The families can feed themselves and lead a decent life only if the monsoons are alright. If the monsoons fail, the families would have to live in hunger, in poverty. Unfortunately, for the past 3 years, the monsoons have failed and there is abject penury in the kingdom. The families are finding it hard to arrange even one square meal a day for themselves. 

In such a desperate time, along comes an industrialist with a proposal to the king. He says, "I want to start a toothpaste factory. I have studied the market and I feel it would be quite a profitable business. But, the problem is I do not have enough money to start a factory. I have talked to the banks and they have told me they would provide me some loans. But the loan money would at best be enough to bring in the infrastructure and build a factory. I do not have the money to buy land at the current price here in your kingdom. For the 300 acres of land I need, I can offer only 30 lakhs per acre, as against the market price of 1 crore. Look, if you could somehow arrange the land for starting my factory, I shall make sure that I shall employ 250 odd people from your kingdom, pay them enough so that they and their families can have three meals a day comfortably. As and when my profits go up I shall accordingly increase their salaries too. Instead of people living in fear of monsoon failures and famines, this could be a steady source of income for them. Only if you could somehow arrange for the land..."

The king ponders over it. He thinks about his people living a life in despair, living with the hope that atleast the next year, the monsoon gods would smile at them. But what if the monsoon fails again? One can never be sure of the monsoons, can he? The industrialist here is making an offer where atleast some of his people would be guaranteed of a decent, if not luxurious, life. And the cost of it would be the Government bearing the loss of 70 lakhs per acre for 300 acres - the deficit which it would have to pay the families to get their land. 

What do you think the king should do? Ask the industrialist to come back only when he has enough money to buy the land? Or should he go ahead and grant the industrialist the land he requires, suffering a loss to the treasury and incur the wrath of the CAG?

Let us for one instant assume that the 2G spectrum was in fact auctioned for that high amount which CAG predicted. Do you think the telecom companies are charity organisations to let go of the extra ₹1760000000000? The real payment of this money would have been from us, the customers. And if we had failed to cough up that money the telecom industry would have gone on a downward spiral. People would have lost jobs. Government would have lost revenues, from both the income taxes from the people who lost jobs, and the tax on revenues from the telecom companies itself. Not a pretty scenario, right?

The price wars which were started by Uninor and MTS immediately after they got licenses are a thing of past. Now we have telecom companies retrench prices, under the attractive garb of 1 paisa per second calls. The ultimate losers of this are us, customers. And as it turns out, the CAG was a little too overboard in its estimation, and the auctioning of 2G wasn't very successful. 3G too hasn't taken off particularly well in India because of the steep pricing which is a direct result of the high prices paid by the telecom companies to obtain the 3G spectrum.

The point I'm trying to make is, one must stop wishing that the Government should be run like a profit making organisation, where in it extracts every last ounce of price from the properties it possesses. Government must always look at whether its policies and decisions benefit the people and the country short term and/or long term. Any "scam" like the 2G one, the Adani land deal, the Tata loan etc must be looked through this prism, and not just at face value which the CAG tends to do. We must avoid jumping into the bandwagon of the irresponsible trumpeting of media and start thinking and finding out things by ourselves before forming an opinion.

Mangalyaan

I've been wanting to write this piece on Mangalyaan for quite some time. After long bouts of laziness and procrastination, I've finally managed to make a decent fist of it, hopefully.

When the Mangalyaan was launched, I came across many reactions (of course, mainly on facebook), ranging from extreme happiness and pride, to outright disgust at the amount of money being "wasted" on useless missions. This post is about my views on this - the views which have been helped by rigorous discussions with my omniscient friend Vinit.

Mission Mangalyaan

Mangalyaan, ISRO's ambitious space mission to Mars was launched on November 5, 2013. The objective of this mission is to send a satellite (the Mars Orbiter) to orbit Mars which shall "explore Mars' surface features, morphology, mineralogy and Martian atmosphere", especially the presence of methane in Martian atmosphere. It is believed that methane is predominantly produced by living objects, and hence the presence of methane in Martian atmosphere would lead us to believe that there is a high probability of the presence of living organisms (and also oil?) in the area where methane is found.

The Mangalyaan is not yet a qualified success, and only the "easier" part, the part which ISRO has enough experience in, has been successfully carried out. The results of the "difficult" part where the Mars Orbiter was given a thrust on December 1 2013 to make it escape earth's gravitational influence and start towards Mars' orbit are still awaited. It is expected to reach Mars' orbit during September 2014, when Mars shall be nearest to earth. It is then expected to come under Mars' gravitational influence and start orbiting around it.

There are many challenges surrounding this. First of all, the thrusts given to the orbiter has to be optimum, neither too less where in it would miss its rendezvous with Mars, nor too high where in it would overshoot and escape Mars' gravitational influence and go away from it. Secondly, the communications channel with the Mars Orbiter should not get lost as it happened, sadly, during Chandrayaan-1. In this mission, ISRO is venturing into deep space communications, navigation and control for the first time. It is going over its comfort level of launching satellites which remain in earth's orbit, or even for that matter, the moon whose average distance from earth is around 3,84,400 km. The distance between Mars and earth when they are closest to each other is 5,46,00,000 km, and at the farthest point, they are 40,10,00,000 km apart. This poses a huge challenge for maintaining contact and keeping the communications channel open between ISRO's earth based control station and the Mars Orbiter.

Why Mangalyaan?

Now that we are done with the nitty gritties of the Mangalyaan, let us focus on the meat of this post - why Mangalyaan?

Many argue that India should focus on alleviation of poverty, providing good sanitation and healthcare etc. than spend money on "sci-fi" projects like Mangalyaan. This argument appears to be logical and true at first glance. But, is it really that simple?

This is a beautifully written article debasing the prejudices against Mangalyaan. The author comes out with some excellent arguments. The main points are

• Inspires children to take up a career in science, technology and research.
• Can act as an organization which provides cheap launch capabilities for countries which want to launch satellites or anything else into space. 
• India will benefit from the profits generated by charging fees to countries for this launch service provided.
• Being a major player in space industry shall also provide more job opportunities for India's engineers.

All this talk of "testing our advancement in space technology" and "helping to contribute to human knowledge" is definitely inspiring and looks well-intentioned. But is this the main reason?

Colonization

We are all aware of the history of colonization by European nations after the industrial revolution. The main reasons cited for colonization is

• Acquiring raw materials and minerals present in the colonized countries.
• Making the colonized countries the new markets for the excessive goods produced by industries. 

Although political colonization has more or less come to an end, "economic colonization" is still in vogue. The erstwhile colonized countries have less industrial infrastructure, and less technological knowledge to kick start economic development on a large scale similar to the developed countries, i.e. erstwhile colonial powers. But they are a rich source of natural resources. Thus they end up inviting multinational companies from developed countries to set up industries in their land which make use of their natural resources and end up selling the finished products to the people of the same country at higher profits.

Without being further distracted by the features and nuances of neo-colonization, let me tell you why "colonization" is being discussed in a Mangalyaan article. 

When we look at the reasons for colonization, their relevance today and the extremely globalized world that we live in, we can easily say that there is enough market in the world today for selling manufactured goods. But there is a realistic concern for the lack of natural resources on the planet. 

So, where does one turn to for natural resources? 

The obvious answer - the untouched pristine lands of Antarctica and the shallow continental shelf of Arctic ocean. 

Quest For Natural Resources

Antarctica has been made untouchable for now, thanks to the farsightedness (or stupidity - depending on which side you're on) of the earlier world leaders. The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) - the treaty system and framework under which all future treaties and pacts regarding Antarctica would take place - clearly states that the continent shall not be a military battlefield and the continent shall be used only for scientific and ecological studies. Though many centres have been set up for "scientific and ecological studies", one can safely assume that there is more to it than what meets the eye. They could be just bases with proper infrastructure being set up to get a foothold in Antarctica, so that if/when the race for natural resource extraction begins, one already has a headstart there. Indian Government became a signatory of ATS under Indira Gandhi in 1983 and set up a base in Antarctica, the "Dakshina Gangotri" in 1984. Since then, Dakshina Gangotri has been abandoned, and two more bases - Maitri and Bharati have been built.

Given the (lack of) funds and scientific technology that India had during the 1980's, one can only be suspicious of the intentions of India when it became a signatory to the ATS, particularly when, at the same period when India became a signatory, the issue of mining minerals in Antarctica was gaining momentum through the negotiations for CRAMRA (Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities). Along with India, around 20 other countries also became signatories at the same time, sensing the possible profits to be had. Alas, CRAMRA failed due to some stringent directives laid down by the founders of ATS. Under ATS, for any new activity to be allowed in Antarctica, all the ATS signatories have to approve it, and CRAMRA failed because Australia and France refused to approve it, coming under pressure from environmentalists. Hence, till date, mineral resource extraction in Antarctica is still forbidden under international laws.

Having burned their fingers in Antarctica, the world powers realised that atleast in the Arctic region, this should not be repeated. Hence, the premise for the Arctic Council was not based on the ideal of peace and non-disturbance of Arctic ecology, but to facilitate the claimant countries to crystallise their territorial claims in that region. So that in future,these same countries could start mineral extraction from the Arctic sea bed which is a rich source of minerals, especially oil, without much hassle. In today's world, where wars have already started for control of mineral resources (especially oil), this was but a natural course. Recently, India became an observer state in the Arctic council, obviously with an eye on exploiting the rich mineral resources that Arctic region has. In this article, Shyam Saran, a former chairman of National Security Advisory Board, makes no bones about the real interests of the powers that be in controlling the Arctic territory, and the interests of the observer states too. One feels it is just a matter of time before mineral extraction begins in a war footing in the Arctic region by these claimant powers, followed by a similar gold rush in Antarctica as well.

What after/apart from Arctic and Antarctica?

Human activities in the polar region is something the environmentalists are very much against. And not without good reason. The environmental and climatic backlash that could happen if the ice caps of Arctic ocean and Antarctica are tampered with have not been understood fully by mankind. If the mineral extraction activities in these regions result in some major calamities, one can assume that such activities would be quickly abandoned and not thought about again. 

But what about the burgeoning demand for energy and minerals by the ever increasing populace of this world? How would it be met? Step in, moon and Mars. And other planets and their moons too. Inter planetary mining would be much less controversial, as environmental concerns there would be of little consequence to earthlings. When the inevitable reduction in costs for space travel and transport happens in future, who would be getting a headstart in this race for colonization of other planets? Of course, the traditional space powers who led the world in developing space technology. And if Mangalyaan becomes a success, India would rightly be considered among the foremost leaders in space technology. Also, the countries who were forefront in space technology and helped in advancing it would have a "moral right", and hence, a precedence over other countries also eyeing these extra terrestrial resources. 

India missed boarding the Industrial Revolution train and the subsequent scientific and technological advancements. Colonization of India also led to it being pushed further behind in this race. India is facing the consequences today - it is still a developing country. But the leaders of post-independence India have rightly encouraged the space program, so that when the next important train - the inter-spatial technological revolution - comes in, we not only board it, but be one of the engines driving it.  

Conscience

The dark dungeons of my heart,
Have started whispering again,
Of sins, of my haunted past,
Of the bloody unwashed stain.

I ran from it, from pole to pole,
To leave it far behind.
But it chases me, with mocking glee,
To pay me back in kind.

The skeletons of my shady past
Scream at me again
The grim murals of the dungeon walls
Are driving me insane

When darkness descends on the heart,
The horror slowly unfolds
Film by film, my sins of yore,
The heart dreadfully beholds

One can fool the world around
But none can fool the self
It wounds and hurts, kills your peace,
And none shall come for help.

Hope

In dungeons of darkness
In depths of despair
On the edge of madness
Springs a hope fair

A hope that spurs
A yearning for light
A hope that stirs
One for a last fight

A hope that whelms
All troubles and distress
Takes you to a realm
Of joy and happiness

The sweet nectar of hope,
Is life's backbone,
So, trek up the arduous slope,
And you'll never walk alone.


P.S : I greatly resisted the urge to write the penultimate line as "So, trek up the Anfield slope"..  :-)

P.P.S : Looks like writing "Anfield" instead of "arduous" would have been a better option after all..  :-(

A day of our lives

Me and my friend started from the Department at a little past 2 AM after a hard and futile session spent studying valiantly in vain a subject which we were never going to understand. Laughing and cracking jokes at our pitiful condition, discussing philosophically about our future if we get thrown out of the college, as we were heading back to our hostel, which is around a 15 minute walk (as many of you already know, a typical Indian measures distances in units of time - so expecting me to do anything different isn't fair) along the sylvan roads of the campus, I saw at a distance  a polka dotted-cloth fluttering around randomly, sometimes defying the physics of the wind direction.

"Why don't we blame our academic poor performance on the restless spirit with polka dotted saree which sucked the living lights out of us on this particular night, when we would inevitably face the Academic council?" I said, half in jest.
"Yeah, right. You're making even the ghosts warm up to fashion nowadays, eh? 'Polka dotted saree' wow!" my friend retorted, disinterested.
"Hey, I'm not joking. Look there, it's roaming around waiting for us to go straight into her trap" I said pointing out to that cloth.
At that exact moment, it chose to fly behind a dense thicket of trees, but not before my friend had caught a glimpse of it.
"Damn! Why didn't you tell this to me before? I would've captured its pic and started off a restless spirit rumour right away" he groaned.
"Oh yes! And presented that as proof to the Academic council too!"
"Do you really think we suck so much at academics?"
"Gosh! Do you really think we are even half-decent? Anyway, careful now, this is where we last saw the ghost, it was here in this thicket that she disappeared into. Pray to God and hope for the best."
"Yeah, sure I will. The best that could ever happen is that she turns up and poses for us so we can get a pic of her and show that as proof to the council, and get our poor performance forgiven."

And God heard our prayers. Partly. As we looked at the thicket where she was last seen, there appeared a pair of radium-green eyes, the kind that Ramsay brothers' Zee Horror Show ghosts usually sported. We froze in our tracks. Slowly and silently she glided towards us, and when she came in full view of the street lights, we saw that it was worse than what we had expected.

There, standing majestically in the middle of the road, looking at us with calm but wary eyes was a leopard. A magnificent beauty to behold, if not for the given circumstances.

My friend impulsively turned to run, but I held his hand tight urging him in whispers to keep his calm and not cause any commotion which could provoke the leopard to harm us. I had this feeling that if it wanted to harm us, it would have done so already. The leopard crouched into a leaping position and growled looking at our struggle. That was enough to quieten us. We stood there motionless. For a long time, which seemed like hours, we stood as we were, before the leopard relaxed and started walking away towards the lake, frequently pausing to look back at us. When the leopard was a safe distance away, we started walking briskly towards our hostel, and ran the last few yards to get into the hostel compound.

Still trembling and shaking all over from this scary experience, I bade goodbye to my equally frightened friend. I couldn't wait to get to bed, lie down and relax, and hopefully get some sleep to soothe myself. I unlocked my room's door, threw my bag on the bed and hissed in relief. The hiss seemed louder than usual, but more unusual things had happened today. I switched on the light and turned around to lie on my bed when I saw it there. A really annoyed cobra lying on my bed, looking at me with its hood raised, hissing angrily.

Euro 2012 - Preview

This post is about the upcoming Euros, the Euro-2012 (football tournament) to be held in Poland and Ukraine. I have tried my best to analyze all the teams.

GROUP A

POLAND

One of the host nations. They have got a decent team, with the Borussia Dortmund trio of Pisczek, Kuba and Lewandowski and Arsenal's Szczesny the star players in the roster. Given that these star players have had a successful season, particularly the Dortmund trio - their confidence definitely would be sky high after featuring regularly and contributing immensely in the league & cup double winning season - and the fact that they are playing at home could make them the surprise package of this tournament. They also have a relatively easy group and have a really good chance of qualifying for the knockout stages. The group stage could also act as a good platform for the team to find their feet and gain confidence which, along with the home support, might be a defining factor if the Polish aim to go far in the tournament. One thing is for sure, if the Polish team is to impress in this tournament and should it manage to go far, it would be mainly down to Kuba and Lewandowski, and most of the credit should eventually fall at Jurgen Klopp's feet for developing them into dangerous footballers.

Poland gets my vote for the "Dark Horse" of the tournament.

GREECE

The Euro-2004 champions. That was achieved mainly due to the discipline instilled by and the tactical genius of Otto Rehhagel. Though there are stars like Samaras and the 2004-winner Karagounis, I don't fancy the current squad to make much of a difference this time. 

I don't think they would get past the group stage.

RUSSIA 

With this being probably the final appearance in a major tournament for Euro-08 stars of Russia which reached the semi-finals that year, this could act as a motivating factor for these players. These players still ooze quality and shouldn't be taken lightly. This could also be a breakthrough tournament for the young CSKA Moscow star Dzagoev, who definitely has the ability of carrying a team on his shoulders.
 

Though I don't think Russia would go far in the tournament, I think they would qualify for the knockout rounds.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Pavel Nedved is the name that comes to everyone's mind when you talk about Czech Republic. Arguably as great a player as Zidane and Figo during the early 2000's, he inspired Czech to a stylish, dominant, winning run to the semi-finals of Euro-04, only to be undone by cruel luck and defensive steel of Otto Rehhagel inspired Greece. Though few players of that era still remain - the Chelsea goalkeeper Cech, the Arsenal playmaker Rosicky and former Liverpool striker Barros - I still think they would miss out on qualifying for the knockout stages this time around. They would need their captain Rosicky to step up and turn in a Nedved like performance if they hope to go far in the tournament.

TO QUALIFY

In my opinion, the teams coming through this group would be Poland and Russia.

GROUP B

Clearly this group is the "Group Of Death", and promises exciting match ups early in the tournament.

NETHERLANDS

Yet another chance for this exciting group of players to win that elusive "major" trophy. They dominated the group stage in Euro-08, scoring 9 goals and conceding 1 in 3 matches, only to be beaten in the quarterfinals by the Guus Hiddink manned Russia, which had peaked at the right time, in added extra time. They proved their mettle once again in the recently concluded World Cup where they stormed into the finals, only to be beaten in added extra time by a very special group of players - arguably the greatest ever set of players - of Spain. They still have unfinished business left and would be looking to win a major trophy this time around which this current group of players deserve. Though they are blessed abundantly in attack, it is their defence which looks ordinary. Nigel De Jong - the defensive mid - must have a super tournament if the Dutch want to come out with flying colours.

DENMARK

With the captain Daniel Agger partnering Simon Kjaer in central defence and Anders Lindegaard as the goalkeeper behind them, their defence looks good. But in this group filled with attacking teams, this may not be enough for the unlucky Danes. Even with other stars like Nicklas Bendtner and the next big thing -  Christian Eriksen - in the squad, it would be a tough ask for Denmark to make it to the knockout stages. They would be cursing their luck which pitted them in this group, and would be shedding tears when they see teams worse than them playing in the knockout stages. Unfortunately, even playing out of their skins may not be enough to see them through.

GERMANY

What can I say about them? The most exciting national team on this planet. Joachim Low has done an excellent job bringing in and blooding in youngsters, and it has paid off excellently as evidenced by their third spot clinching performance in 2010 World Cup which none expected. These youngsters have only become better over the past 2 years, and more have broken into the national squad. They play a 4-2-3-1 formation, and more importantly, not only do they have the right personnel to play that formation, but also many of the best ones. My goalkeeper of the year in Nueuer, an assured defence led by Hummels, wonderful playmakers in Schweinsteiger and Kroos, exciting attackers in Muller, Gotze, Podolski, Gomez and a host of other names, the striker who wakes up every 2 years for a month or so to deliver tremendously for his national team - Miroslav Klose - and goes back to sleep again, the fantabulous Ozil, surely they must be the favourites, isn't it?
 

The current king of football is Spain, but is this crowned prince's time nigh to dethrone the king? We'll find it out in a month.

PORTUGAL

The Cristian Ronaldo led Portugal has many stars like Nani, Meireles, Coentrao, Pepe, Moutinho etc. But, the sum of these parts has always been far lower than expected. If their superstars start gelling together and start working better as a team, they will be a threat to any team in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo himself is capable of creating some magical, match changing moments if there's no interference from his acclaimed colleagues.
 

I do not think they would change their habits, and predict that they will continue to underperform, and might even finish behind Denmark in the group stages just like they did in the qualifying.

TO QUALIFY

From this group, I predict Netherlands and Germany to go through.

GROUP C

This group may not have fancy teams like in Group B, but qualifying from this group is equally hard, if not more.
 

SPAIN

The World champions. The defending champions. They have almost the same squad as the World Cup winning one. They have the same coach, the same approach to the game, and the same personnel. Well, almost. We all know how important a cog David Villa was in that World Cup winning team. He was the one who used to bury the chances, and most of the times, created those chances himself. Though Fernando Llorente is not a bad replacement for Villa, you can't help but think Spain would definitely struggle without Villa.
 

The good news for Spain is the rise of David Silva. He can be an excellent creator-in-chief, and is also a good finisher. If used effectively, and if he's not out of form, we could expect him and Llorente to bear the goalscoring burden that Villa so effortlessly had handled.
 

Definitely one of the favourites to win the competition, I would be looking forward to see a Germany vs Spain matchup at some stage in the tournament.
 

ITALY

One of the traditional superpowers in world football along with Germany and Brazil, they do not quite look like one today. But neither did they look so in 2006 World Cup which they won. They do have a decent team this time around, but none of the defensive greats, or dangerous attackers that they had been blessed with in the last decade. The midfield looks strong with Pirlo, De Rossi, Montolivo and the upcoming Marchisio.
 

But much will rest on Cassano's shoulders. The erstwhile spoilt boy of Italian football has got his life back on track and this has clearly reflected in the beautiful football he has been playing for the last 2 years. I believe that Italy's chance of going far in the tournament lies in how well and consistently Cassano delivers.
 

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

A decent team with many players playing in the mid table teams of EPL. The team which was "wrongly denied" a passage to the 2010 World Cup by the hand of Henry (they have none of my sympathy, though) have a chance to show they really are a team which needs to be taken seriously. With the famous Giovanni Trapattoni at the helm, they have showed a lot of consistency over the recent years. He has made them a team hard to beat, classic catenaccio style. And he has a dangerous man up front in his captain Robbie Keane.
 

This is a team which could upset the big guns, but cannot be a big gun themselves. I think they would get past the group stage only if Italy self destructs like they did in the World Cup and Croatia fail to find their feet in the tournament, but both of these occurring simultaneously seems unlikely.
 

CROATIA

A well balanced, strongish team with a young coach, Slaven Bilic, at the helm for the past 6 years. They had impressed everyone with their performance in the previous Euros, only to be defeated by the "Kings of snatching victory from jaws of defeat" - the Turkey team of 08 in the quarter finals. All that promise shown eventually faded, and they failed to qualify for the World Cup, and came second in their group in the Euro-12 qualifiers. But, they still have the same quality in their squad, the same group of players who had performed so well in Euro-08. They still have the ability and quality to go far in this tournament. Luka Modric will be the key player for them.

P.S : It is time again to irritate my brother by saying aloud the Croatian teamsheet again and again - he hates the ićes..

TO QUALIFY

This is as tricky a group as Group B and anything can happen, but my vote goes for Spain and Italy going through from this group.

GROUP D

UKRAINE

The co-hosts of this tournament, they used to be a good team few years ago. Captained by the 35 year old former Milan star Andriy Shevchenko, the current team looks like it does not belong to this tournament, and have gatecrashed here on the basis of being co-hosts. But, they could fancy themselves qualifying from this group, as only France can be considered to be a dangerous team here, and with a little luck, the rest are beatable.
 

I cannot see them even putting up a decent performance, let alone qualify to the knockout stages.
 

SWEDEN

They possess a decent team, and a match winner in Ibrahimovic. They also have other good players like Seb Larsson, Kallstrom, Elm, Martin Olsson who can provide enough support for Ibrahimovic. If Ibrahimovic can turn it up like he does regularly at club level, they could hope for a decent run in this Euros.
 

ENGLAND

They have an inept manager in Roy Hodgson, whose only "trick" is to play 8 or 9 man defence. Well, with a considerable dose of luck, this could actually work if they manage to qualify for the knockout rounds where the plan to avoid defeat can be effective, as demonstrated by the current Champions League winners Chelsea (arguably the most boring and the worst European Champions so far).
 

I think, and fervently hope, that England won't qualify for the knockout stages. To the large horde of England fans out there - I hope the boredom of watching your team play a punt-ball, hoof-ball game with an 8-0-2 formation won't scar you for life. Best of luck!!
 

FRANCE

After the ignominy and comedy of the 2010 World Cup, they have bounced back strongly - the victory over Germany at Bremen being the high point of this changed team so far. With the dangerous Benzema leading the attack, Nasri and Ribery supporting him, Cabaye and Diarra manning the midfield, and a decent defence of Rami, Koscielny, Clichy and Reveillere and Lloris guarding the post - they have a team which can beat any team in the world on their day. They have to be considered as one of the favourites this time around.

TO QUALIFY

I suspect this is going to be the most boring group of all, not least because it features England. As for the teams going through - France definitely will, and between England and Sweden, I think Sweden should qualify.