A Turing test for Sharad pawar

Computer programmers will be familiar with the Turing test, a device to test a machine’s intelligence. As per Wikipedia:

“A human judge engages in a natural language conversation with one human and one machine, each of which tries to appear human. All participants are placed in isolated locations. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine is said to have passed the test.”

One can devise a similar test for Sharad Pawar, allegedly India’s agriculture and food minister. During his disastrous career as the agriculture and food minister, lakhs of farmers – mostly in his own home state of Maharashtra – have committed suicide; and food prices have repeatedly breached all-time highs. Yet, Mr. Pawar prefers to remain silent. P. Sainath, rural-affairs editor for ‘The Hindu’, says:

“Sharad Pawar has never once moved to see that the National Farmers Commission Reports are placed in parliament for discussion and for adoption as policy, nothing. Sharad Pawar has not visited one house hold where a farmer has committed suicide. He is the agriculture minister. But he has been to every IPL, final, semi final, IPL 1, IPL 2 , he went to Durban to attend but he has not been in his home state of Maharashtra ,he has not visited the house hold of a farmer who was committed suicide, these are the sort of people who run our country. “

Then what makes Mr. Pawar speak? How do we know that Mr. Pawar feels responsible for any topic? If a farmer dying every half an hour doesn’t compel him to act, what will? If prices of essential commodities double in three years coaxes a statement to the effect that ‘we expect prices to rise even more’, what will? Is there an issue that can make the Baramati Boss talk?

We now have an answer: Lavasa. Mr. Pawar’s malleable and ultra-sensitive heart bleeds for the scam-embattled project. Mr. Pawar has recently come out against the environment minister jairam Ramesh’s directive asking the Lavasa corporation to stop constuction work.

So we now have a Turing test for Sharad Pawar: our alleged agriculture minister might be slient on topics of national importance, and thus rsemble a mue automaton, but attack one of his myriad business intersts, and the NCP supremo will sing.

Perhaps the farmers of Vidarbha must immoalte themselves in Lavasa. During the fourth edition of IPL.

regards,

- Bhushan.