ATS files a charge sheet in a blast case taken place at worship place of minorities! An industrial project of a global giant is stalled on environmental ground!
These are the headlines that would give a sense off social justice taking place to a common citizen. I also got the same feeling and thought the true democratic India has come of age which is not only for powerful and riches but equally for underdeveloped and downtrodden. But think for a moment, it's not as black and white as it looks.
The moment I started thinking twice at the timing of these news and the other developments surrounding the Indian politics, I was shocked. This all charge sheet and project halt appear to be a well timed scene of typical Abbas-Mastan flick from Bollywood. I am not going to give my views here, rather I am leaving it to intellectual readers for their own analysis.
In 2009 during Orissa assembly election campaign, the much celebrated prince of democratic India,Rahul Gandhi promises that proposed Vedanta plant will not come in Orissa at any cost. There was no environmental report out, but what all needed to prince was vote, and for that he made a number of promises. Now in 2010, Vedanta plant proposal is rejected and the next day prince goes there and announced that he kept his promise. This much was enough put a big question mark on objectivity of environmental report and credibility of Jairam Ramesh.
Hardly ever read or studied Indian history, politics and his own party's history, prince compares SIMI, an organization banned by his own party with RSS. The comment didn't go well with a number of his own party men. But when you have power in your hand and blind support and devotion of a bunch of loyal dogs, you can afford to write history in advance. Or your utter nonsense words will be look like truth by your loyal dogs, after all these dogs control the system. And in less than a month ATS files charge sheet in Ajmer blast. And the news is flashed continuously on all the media channels. Not to forget here, North Bihar is going through election where minority vote is the only hope for Congress. If one digs down the memory lane, even Malegaon blast investigation made all the news just before 3 state elections where Congress was in opposition. Even the Amit Shah stunt was done just before Gujrat local bodies election.
Here is the link to major recent terror attacks in India:
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/283526_recent-major-bomb-blasts-and-terror-attacks-in-india
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Chronology-of-recent-bomb-attacks-in-India/Article1-508675.aspx
I am not trying to sort the attacks in order of severity and importance. But if you look at the number of casualties and magnitude of damages the Malegaon and Ajmer blasts come at bottom. Then why is that all other attacks investigations are going at typical Indian snail pace investigation?
The credit goes to "the acclaimed prince and PM in making" of democratic India, Rahul Gandhi. And why not, he has support of so called intellectuals and media who cross the limits of helplessness and shamelessness to call someone a prince in a democratic nation.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Princely Timing: Why not, whole bunch of pet dogs are there for you to abuse the system
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Change is here, and visible. But, how long?
It has been a long time since I wrote something voluntarily. IIM curriculum, the job profile of a research analyst and top of all, my sheer laziness are to be blamed for my increased distance with writing over the last few years. But in a time when despair and helplessness is ruling in the minds and hearts of every Indian due to the ongoing CWG tamasha, Kashmir problem and many more such events, I got an opportunity to see and experience the change for betterment, a ray of hope, though not very sure how long this ray is going to be there. And it is this positive change which impelled me to share it through writing about it.
"Bhojpur and Delhi are not only separated by a 1000 miles but also by 5000 years", this powerful dialogue tells the disparity between Bhojpur (a small town in Bihar) and Delhi during the 70s in Sudhir Mishra's 2003 released cult movie Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. Let me tell you this 5000 years would have increased many times in the 90s when the rest of India was progressing faster than ever post liberalization while Bihar was going back to Lalten, Charwaha Vidyalaya, and many such things. Bhojpur is just a symbolic name in the dialogue, you replace it with any XYZ town of Bihar, the 5000 years gap would not have been much different.
During the last decade I have been nothing more than a visitor to my home state. The 90s experience of Bihar has made me very pessimistic about any positive change there and I was not alone. But 2010 has proved me wrong if not entirely and permanently, partly and momentarily for sure.
On September 13 I landed at Patna airport on my short trip of home. One of my very sincere friend was supposed to pick me up at the airport but he was not that sincere to get up by the time I landed. On calling him, he suggested me to take a cycle rickshaw to Boring Road. Following his instructions, I got into a rickshaw and then the rickshaw-puller like any other Bihari rickshaw-puller started conversation on widely varying subjects! Just after coming out of airport area, he showed me an leisure park/garden coming up and from there the conversation became really engaging. Conversation goes as:
Rickshaw wala: Sir, ye park bana rahe hai. Lagta hai ticket bhi lagayenge.
me: Achcha ticket, ye to theek nahi hoga.
Rickshaw wala:Are sir, ticket laga ke bhi isko badhiya se maintain rakhe to theek hi hai. bas kharab to tab hoga ki bana ke isko barbad hone ke liye chhod denge.
me: Ka ho ab ta Election aa rahal ba, kaisan mahol lagait ba abki baar?
Rickshaw wala: Sir kaam aur badlao ke hisab se to Nitish jee ko ek aur chance milna chahiye lekin election me ta bahut kuch hota hai se hum pakka to nahi keh sakte.
me: ab to Laloo jee aur Ram Vilas jee ke saath aa gailan ha ta o se kuch mushkil na hoi?
Rickshaw wala: nahi sir, ab log badlao aur vikas dekh liye hai. unko to ab nahi hi layenge.
me: Aisan ka badlao aur vikas ho gail hai?
Rickshaw wala: Sir ab dekh rahe hai na road jispe ki hum rickshaw chala sakte hai aur kanoon-vyavstha ki raat ke 10 baje tak hum rickshaw chala rahe hai nahi to pehle aisa tha ki shaam ke 6 baje hi koi aa ke rickshaw pe baith jata tha aur bhada dena to rehne dijiye jo paisa kama ke rakhe hote the wo bhi chhin ke chala jata tha.
My conversation continued further till I reached Boring Road, but the above conversation itself was enough to make me realize that something has changed and yes, it has changed up to the grass-root level. This is the much hyped buzzword in boardrooms and power circles- the inclusive growth. It was not that I was not able to see the changes in and around Patna, rather it was my inquisitiveness to inquire about the feelings of common man with regards to these changes.
I am not going to quote the growth and development figures of Bihar over the last five years as media has already tried hard to cash in the Bihar growth story to increase their TRPs and readership. But let me tell you that in a year when Bihar is facing third consecutive drought year, the condition of state is not that bad it used to be earlier. Now it has got roads which are incomparable to its roads in the past, rather better than the roads in many states. Roads are not like the much talked Hema Malini ke Gaal, there are potholes in the roads at places, but now potholes exist in roads and not the viceversa. And above all people have the hope that one day this road will be without potholes. Schools have got their building and now there are teachers in the schools too. As a result schools are full with kids. One can argue about the quality of teachers and teaching standards of these schools, but any realist should not forget till five year back what was the condition. Now there is intermittent electricity supply in remote villages too though by purchasing electricity from outside as Bihar doesn't enough electricity to light up its Capital! Above all these developments, there is law and order enabling the people of Bihar to use these roads, electricity and schools.
I do understand that any mature and sensible person would be reading the above paragraph with skepticism as if he is reading a fairytale. And that's true, all is not so well in the land where nothing used to be well! Even the current change which is due to an electoral result was not primarily for development, rather it was the outcome of caste equation which coincidentally led to the path of development.Corruption is still there. It is just that it has shifted from "bhrashta neta" to "bhrasta babu". The growth and development is mostly pushed by government spending. Industrial growth and private spending is still missing in the state. So, how long these developmental changes are sustainable, remains a big question in front of hero of the change story, Mr. Nitish Kumar.
Now the biggest question at hand, is this change story going to continue in Bihar or will there be a comma/full stop in this story as Bihar is facing the election next month. Caste and communal equation, switching loyalties, dhanbal aur bahubal, etc. are in action currently in Bihar to decide the fate of the state in the upcoming election. Nitish is being projected as a hero and a villain by his supporters and opponents respectively.
I have just one thing to say for Nitish: Don't be mistaken, he is a human being after all, don't make him another god as we have done with Sachin and Rahman, and so don't think he is infallible. He can commit mistakes and would have committed mistakes during the last five years. But for god sake please be practical as well while being rational, he has achieved development, has shown ray of hope and optimism and controlled law and order situation in a land which was/is supposed to be lawless and full of corrupt netas and bahubalis. He, an engineer from Patna Engineering College has achieved this change amidst such unfavorable circumstances what our most respected, celebrated and educated lots of Manmohan Singh, an Oxford alumni, Rahul Gandhi, A Cambridge alumni, Omar Abdullah, a popular celebrity on YouTube has failed to achieve. Needless to say, how much the intellectual and elite class of Indian Metros may scream our highly educated and intellectuals like Manmohan, Rahul, and Omar have not achieved anything closer to what Nitish has achieved under worse circumstances. Commonwealth Games, Kashmir fiasco, Price rise, spectrum allocation and the list will go on. Anyways leave it, after all these are all done by forward looking intellectual leaders of educated youths.
I am keeping my fingers crossed waiting till November 26th when I will get the answer of my question. How long the wave of change is going to be there in Bihar?
Friday, July 10, 2009
In the name of poor
For a long time political parties of India have favored the huge subsidy burden of Kerosene in the name of poor. But, I seriously doubt if a poor really wants to pass his whole life in the dim light of a Kerosene fulled diya or lantern and to imagine the same happenings with his/her upcoming generations. It is just the corrupt Indian netas and babus who wants to fill their pocket by diverting the subsidy are shouting that the poor needs subsidized Kerosene. It is as similar as killing human in the name of Khuda. I seriously doubt if any god, allah, or bhagwan would like his followers to kill his own creature! But people with their vested interests in this killings try to justify it in the name of Khuda.
| Amount of Under-recoveries Suffered by Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCS) in Selling PDS Kerosene and Domestic LPG, | |||||
| (Rs. in Crore) | |||||
| Under Recovery* | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | April-Dec., 2008 |
| PDS Kerosene | 9480 | 14384 | 17883 | 19102 | 25100 |
| Domestic LPG | 8362 | 10246 | 10701 | 15523 | 16137 |
| Petrol | 150 | 2723 | 2027 | 7332 | 6383 |
| Diesel | 2154 | 12647 | 18776 | 35166 | 58595 |
| Total | 20146 | 40000 | 49387 | 77123 | 106215 |
As crude prices had fallen down during the first quarter of 2009, the total under recovery on Kerosene would be in the range of 30000 Crores during FY 2008-2009. This amount is sufficient to establish 6000 MW of Coal or gas based thermal power station. Simple calculation further suggests that if we provide four pieces of 10 W CFL to each of those BPL families for whom the subsidized kerosene was meant, a 6000 MW plant can light up 80-100 million households even under Indian T&D losses. The electricity charges for these lighting would be in the tune of Rs. 6000-8000 Crores considering each unit of electricity at Rs. 4. I understand the practice is not so simple as this calculation. There are a lot more requirements starting from plant building, to transmission grid and electrification to providing CFL tubes. But, I am not talking something impossible. If the poor's symphatizer government can spent around Rs. 90,000 crores in Kerosene subsidies over last five years alone, why did it fail to spend even a small portion of that to provide electricity to these poors.
The motive of these governments run by the corrupt and cunning politicians is clear. They want the poor to continue living under the kerosene light so that they (netas and babus) and number of their upcoming generations can enjoy their evening in the glittering surroundings of five star hotels with the looted money out of subsidy scheme. Who is benefitting from these subsidies? A report by NACEAR had estimated around 40% of the subsidized Kerosene don't reach to the teargetted population. Following table about the leakage in the Kerosene distribution will clear the picture:
| Extremely high leakage (More Than 50%) | Low leakage (Less Than 20%) | ||
| Four States | |||
| Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Orissa and Punjab | Assam, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal | Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh | Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and |
So, for whom these subsidized Kerosene meant for? Definitely not for the poor. It is meant to divert the taxpayers money to netas and babus. By the means of these subsidies in the name of poor we are subsidizing OPEC nations! Now, I shift my focus towards last few central governments. Frankly speaking, it is hard to expect a clean government in India. But, there is a possibility of looking for best among the worst. A closer look at following graph makes things more clear and tell the truth about the government of aam aadami headed by a really clean and honest person!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
BJP's Double Dilemma
This is not something which was totally unexpected. In fact, it was on the expected lines and was just the matter of time that when would it happen. After the loss in previous Loksabha elections and the subsequent departure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee from active politics, BJP as a party has struggled to sail smoothly. What BJP is facing and observing now is what I call the "Double Dilemma of BJP".
With the changic demographies of voters, that is more and more youth are joining the voting force, and slowly but steadily increasing expectations of voters about there futures has forced the BJP to overhaul the party. The outcome of recent state elections are clear sign of how the voter is going to exercise his vote? He or she is no more interested in living in the glory of past or wasting his future life in settling the scores of past. Thanks to Obama, at least one man has raised to occasion when the politics was in desperate need of a politician who can look into the future, especially after Bush remained busy during his two terms in settling the scores of his father. In the context of Indian politics I can't see any Obama or Obama-like currently available. But, I have hope. Slowly and gradually the Indian voter is looking for some futuristic leader. BJP realized this bitter fact by now that it can no more get votes in the names of Ramas and temples. Even the fear factor or safety cocerns seemed like thing of past. Especially dueing the tenure of NDA government we witnessed IC-814 hijack, and attack on parliament as the major terrorist attacks besides number of other smaller terrorist attacks. So, people of India has accepted the terror attacks as the part and parcel of their lives. So, in these changing times, when neither Hindutva card of security card was working in the favor of BJP. It needed some broader vision and bigger and better agenda for itself. Ironically, it was the oldtime harcore Hindutva face of BJP, Mr. L. K. Advani, who realized this changing rules of the game of Indian politics. He chose a perfect weapon to appease Indian Muslims and attack Congress by praising Md. Ali Zinnah. But, unfortunately it backfired and Adavani faced big time resistance from his party, RSS and VHP. The actions of BJP's posterboys such as Narendra Modi, Shivraj Chauhan, and Raman Singh over the last few years clearly suggest that Hindutva, Swadeshi idealism, and RSS might have been the reason behind their rise in Indian politics but it is the development and a vision for better future that is keeping them at that height in Indian politics and helping them achieveing further electoral success.
Coming to the "Double Dilemma", BJP is trying to sideline all the old warhorses in order to achieve two things- one to ensure that no hinderance in the way of candidature of Advani as prime minister and at the same time to ensure that after Advani it will be second generation leaders at top in BJP. Bringing second generation leaders in the top has become almost unavoidable to BJP. But here the trouble starts for the BJP. These old warhorses has started digging the grave for their party itself. BJP is confused between the choices of making these old warhorses happy and keeping them within the party or let them go and bring the second generation leaders in front and overhaul the party into a modern visionary party. Both the choices has its cons and pros. Making the old leaders happy and keeping them the poster faces in the coming election will result in a big jolt to the reform, modernization and overhauling of the party structure and image. Letting them go may result in loss of big share of votes in the coming elections and ultimately the desperate dream of Mr. Adavani will remain a dream forever. But, one thing is clear, it is a choice between short-term gain versus long-term advantage. Of course, opportunity is in the hands of thinker, planners and executers at BJP headquarter that what they want to do?
First it was 86 years old former vice president Mr. Bhairo Singh Sekhawat and now it is 76 years old former CM of UP, Mr. Kalyan Singh. Mr. Sekhavat crossed all the limits of greed and shamelessness. Just ensuring the defeat of Vasundhara Raje in the recent Rajsthan assembly election was not not enough to fulfill his greed. At the age of 86, after completing his term as vice-president and contesting for presidential election, he wants to contest upcoming Loksabha elections. In his response to denial of the ticket by party president Mr. Rajnath Singh, Mr. Sekhavat crossed all the limits of cheapness and shamelessness. He reponsded by saying, "I entered into the poltics when Rajnath was not even born". Who will make Mr. Sekhavat understand that your answer itself says that now you must quit active politics. What will he achieve at the age of 86 which he has failed to achieve by being in active politics for more than 60 years. Kalyan's response was also on the similar lines. Though, he was given ticket form Etawah parliamentary constituency, but he was not happy with his limited role in the party'd day to day affairs. He responded by saying, "the party has forgotten the senior leaders like Madanlal Khurana, Babulal Marandi, and Uma Bharti. Who will tell these veterans that their time is over now.Gone are the days when they can attract votes in the name of Ram and temple. They should now say good bye to active politics.
So, this is the time for BJP to do something new and different. Say good bye to these old warhorses. They don't have Obama, but they have severals of young (though not so young!) entusiastic politicians like Arun Jaitely, Narendra Modi, Ravishanakar Prasad, Madhavendra Singh, Shahanawaz Hussain, and Rajiv Pratap Rudi. Give these young leaders some responsibilities and prepare them for future. Come out of this dilemma as a stronger and visionary party rather than succumbing to the demand of these old blinds! Act before it's too late!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Socialism in Cricket too!
Former International Cricket Council CEO Malcolm Speed has dismissed suggestions that India is trying to take over the sport by flexing its financial muscle, insisting that such apprehensions are too far-fetched.
"There is too much fear of an Indian takeover and the power of the Indian administrators," Speed told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"Cricket's unique selling point is the passion for cricket by Indians -- cricket is the most popular sport by a factor of about 30 in the second-most populous country in the world. This should be seen as a major positive. The game needs to find ways to use that unique selling point," he added.
The above is the excerpts from the interview of Mr. Malcom Speed, the former CEO of ICC. I am not very much clear about his intentions behind making these statements. Whether he wanted to point out the dominating Indian muscle power in international cricket or he wanted to just dismiss the recent allegations of Indian dominance by few of the cricket boards and media. Whatever the reason may be, but one thing becomes clear. Speed or the other officials of CA, ECB or for that matter any official of the developed nations is self-obsessed and big time hypocrite. They love any principle till the time it puts them in the comfort zone and benefits them.
Though I am not going to write about the recent bail-outs, import quota, or fixed exchange rate to floating exchange rates drama. But, the recent happenings has made one thing clear that these developed nations just talk of morality, principals, and equity but hardly put these in practice. After lambasting the developing countries for their protectionism and socialist approach, these so called developed countries (run by the intellectuals!) has turned to socialism to protect their market. What happened suddenly? Has the basic ideologies of socialism and capitalism changed? These question will be debated for times to come. So, let me look at the world cricket form this angle. Cricket is not isolated from the world politics and economics.
Starting from 90s, 1996 world cup to be more precise, there has been a drastic shift of power in world cricket. India emerged as unchallenged power in controlling the cricket. This was not because of the mercy or kindness of white skinned cricket administrators. Credit goes totransparent or non-transparent cricket administrators of India and rising Indian economy. Today revenue generated by the Indian cricket is 30 times more than that of its nearest competitor, as said by Mr. Speed. So, naturally India is a much bigger fish in the pond of world cricket nowadays than Australia or England were during pre-90 era. By virtue of their opportunist tendency, CA, ECB have started to talk about responsibility, equity and many more globe terms (these terms look better on paper not in practice! or say it like..these terms look better only when you are expecting these from the other party).
Let me clarify my stand. I am not a fan of socialist ideology. I strongly blieve that socialism can never be a good thing in practice. It may be good only for intellectual discussions, simply timepass with tea, or ideological debate under high spirits caused by spirit! It can never be practical. So, Mr. Sutherland (CA), or Mr. Speed prepare yourself to watch the show in coming years. I request you to just look at the pre-90 era of world cricket and think how responsibly and equitably you have behaved? I even don't think that India's sun will be always rising in the world of cricket. Let few more Bindra, Vijendra come to the scene and India will shift its focus from cricket to some other sports. It was you people who were in a notion that white skinned people will always be ruling cricket.
Sorry Mr. Speed, mr. Sutherland....whoever is concerned! Cricket too has its cycle like business! Be patience to come out of this recession (may be it would turn out to a great depression for you!).
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Just shut up Mr. Ramadoss!
He did it again! Our health minister has mastered the art of cheap publicity. Every other day he is in the limelight of media, unfortunately, at most of the times for wrong reasons.He is used to make useless statements and encroaching in the personal space of others. But, whatever he spoke today was totally illogical and not accepted one form a mentally fit (I think so. As our constitution says that to be a minister you need to be of sound mind!) person.
While answering the questions of reporters on possible epidemic in Bihar as the water in the flood affected areas has started coming down he told that it's nothing new about Bihar. His detail statement goes like:
Bihar has been a center of epidemics even before the floods. So it is nothing new for Bihar. They have cases of polio, they have cases of JE (Japanese Encephalitis), malaria is a problem, kala azar is a problem. All have been there,” Ramadoss said.
I have certain reservations regarding this statement. My first objection has nothing to do with reminding him of his responsibilities as a health minister. It is also not that being a native of Bihar I am hurt emotionally by his statements. People from Bihar are used to get nothing after empathetic statements as well. My question goes as:
Does the smoking of SRK was new thing? That was a big concern for the minister.
Does endorsement of Lays by Saif was a new event? This also bothered minister very much.
Height of stupidity! A health minister is more worried about individual habits than about the healthcare of masses. That too in the hour of need, when Lakhs of people are facing one of the worst natural calamities of the recent times. Keep apart the past and present, that itself is another big discussion topic. Lakhs of marginalised people, majority of them are women, old aged and children - because in search of bread and butter for their families the adult males have gone to some other states, are suffering from a tragedy of this scale and our health minister instead of empathising (Doing something is far from expecations!) with them is rather mercilessly saying that their lives are of no use for the minister and this nation. Minister is telling that it doesn't matter to him that these flood affected areas are not at all appear in his map of India. I don't know the motives, but the other states and other ministeries are lending their helping hands to the state in trouble and there is our insane healt minister making such senseless statements.
I am not arguing with the minister that Bihar is one of the most developed states of our country. Neither I am saying that the politicians from Bihar are the best ones. But, what justifies his statements. Which theory suggests that we should not develop? If we don't have to develop or improve the thing then why we keep on talking of growth and development? If something is bad then should we try to make that good or make that worse. Can Ramdoss tell me if someone is suffering from a life threatening disease like Cancer or AIDS for that matter, should we kill him? Understanding the rationale behind his statement is out of my understanding. May be I am not that much intellectual!
During the tenure of this UPA government we have witnessed many good and bad incidents. But, what is important that there are few ministers in this government in this government who whenever opened theie mouth, only shit came out of their mouth. No prize for guessing one of the names different from Ramadoss- yes, he is our own home minister- Mr. SHivraj Patil. On numerous occasions he has done this. Things are always better when these people remain silent.
So, please shut up Mr. Ramdoss.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Oh! Enough of Kasmir appeasment. Stop it now.
People of Jammu has suffered a lot in last 60 years due to all pro-Pakistan and separatists movement in Kashmir. They remained calm on most of the occasions when larger chunks of development amount were spent on the smaller population of Kashmir. They did not display their anger on migration of Kashmiri Pandits. After 60 years of independence Jammu region is one of the underdeveloped regions of India. This is largely due to the absence of governence and terrorism and Kashmir. Jammu suffered for such a long time because none of thir mistakes. They kept quiet, all because they always felt like an Indian and just because they wanted Kashmir to be the part of India at any cost, they never complaint about the partial treatment.
Now just look at Kashmir and the Kashmiris (I don't know what each of the Kashmiri feels, but what their representatives feel is vary clear). India spent billions of dollar on kashmir's development and security. The per capita central support to J&K around Rs. 9754 Kashmir and Rs. 876 Bihar. Ten times better support and this figure doesn't include additional billions of dollar spent on defense. Point here to be noted is that out of this support most of the money is spent on Kashmir and Jammu junta find themselves at the receiving end. In 2004, the Prime Minister announced special package of $5 Billion for the development of state. We are spending our taxpayers money freely without thinking about anything else. For the sake of development of Kashmir we are depriving another states of funds. The states which contributes larger amount to tax collection are getting lower support than Kashmir which hardly contributes anything to the tax collection. We are still carrying the burden of Article 370 (thanks to appeasement policy) due to which Kashmir is not an another state despite being part of India. Our constitution and acts are not applicable (with the exception of Foreign policy, Defense and communication).
In my opinion the provision of article 370 in the constitution was the biggest blunder. Till now Kashmiris don't feel to be part of India. Even when separatists movement was at low the article 370 never gave them a sense of belongingness to India.
Coming to the current hue and cry over land transfer, we need to look the issue closely. The reasons given by the hardliners in opposition to the transfer of 40 Hectares of land to SASB.
The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference spread three canards: First, the transfer amounted to alienation of 'Kashmiri land'; second, it would lead to intrusion of 'Hindu culture' in Muslim Kashmir; and, third, it would cause ecological damage.
In a so called secular nation and the people who always shouted the "aawaz of Kashmiriyat" are now opposing a move based on communal grounds. Even after 60 years they are still feeling that Kashmir should be separate from rest of the India. And lastly, the firing and terrorist activities going on for so long has done no harm to the ecology of Kashmir that land transfer deal will do. Let me try to understand the rationality of their arguments on the communal basis. In our secular democratic country, exchequer spents about Rs. 300 Crores for the welfare of "Haz Yaatra" of 14% minority (of course 1-2 % are not minorities. After all 1-2 % don't constitute the vote banks.Christians, Sikhs, Bhudhists...who are they?). Government try their best to provide airfare subsidy, opens special terminal at airports, sends teams of medical staffs and so on. Nobody has any objections on that. Whay at all a secular state provides any kind of support in a religious activity. A country where illiteracy, infant mortality, malnutrition to name a few still remains a major problem, is spending such a huge amount on religious activities. When the same government tried to help the pilgrims belonging to the about 82% of the population these Kashmiris started feeling the pinch. How one can be so insane. Form any comaprison these two supports are unmatched.
These Kashmiri leaders have always keep India warning about their willingness to merger with Pakistan just because the state got the basic supports form the center always on a preferential basis. We have done enough. What have we got in the return? Always a sense of hostility, their affection for Pakistan. We ahve faced the separatist movements in a number of states. Punjab, Nagaland, Mizoram and many more. We didn't provide any special status to these states and finally all these states are back to normal life and part of Indian democratic system. We have already done enough to appeas Kashmir and the Kashmiris. Just stop this appeasement right now. Let them do whatever they want. Stop the central grant and let them realize there is something called Economics and politics can't fill the hungry stomach!! This is high time when we must take some bold move rather than just pacifuing the situtaion for the time being!
But, I am not very hopeful. Every party will ook at the situation from the angle of upcoming state assembly elections and more importantly upcoming parliamentary elections. Anyways, I sincerely appeal to every poltical party please rise above narrow election politics and stop this Kashmir appeasement right now!
Friday, July 25, 2008
M. G. Road Bangalore to M. G. Road Indore: Without ticket train journey in between
Sunday, 20th July 2008
It was the third weekend in Indore. This time our determination was strong enough to cross the boundaries of IIMI. After having enough of quizzes, presentation and assignments, we understood the fact that we had to go out and at least see the city in this hectic schedule itself and there would be no time when we have nothing to do. The last 2 weeks were a kind of standard punishment of IPC (Indian Penal Act) - 15 days of jail (all minor crimes and wrongdoings attract this penalty...given our police prove the charges)! I went to city 3-4 days ago - thanks to the person who stole my cell phone. But, that was a visit to mobile store and not to the city.
We usually don't have any academic activities apart from classes in morning till 1.30 in afternoon. But, this was not the usual case, everything was coming as an obstacle in our way to city or more precisely way to movie. This time it was batch photograph for the placement brochure. I am in section D, a first time section at IIMI. It is not that only teachers are satisfying their sadistic wishes by the means of assignments, quizzes, presentations etc., many more things are there to test our patience. Our section's photography was scheduled last - at 1.00 PM on Sunday. With the dreams of going to watch a movie I slept on Saturday night and with the hope of making it I woke up at 10.00 AM on Sunday. After having lunch at afternoon, we came to know that photography of other section has overshot the time limit and ours is ultimately going to start at about 4.30 PM. What the hell was going on? Cursing my hard luck I came back to my room (more appropriatley "mera gaon": A construction funded by NABARD at IIMI) and slept. I was witnessing one more Sunday passing very fast and Monday approaching. To attend the photograph session I woke up at 3.45 PM and then got ready. Getting ready in formal dress and too formal means Suite...It was a time consuming task for me. Thankfully by 5.45 PM, the photography thing was over. I ran back to my room and changed dress. We thought about going outside the main gate and then catch some bus or taxi. But, then we realized the IIM van leaving at 6.30 PM would be a better option. This van will drop us at the beginning of city.
We started at 6.30 PM in the IIM van. Thanks to Sunday evening, this van was full. Anyway we managed to get packed in the van. Nothing was going right..just on reaching Rau railway crossing (4 Kms from here), the gate was closed!! There were two train crossings - means about 20-30 minutes of waiting. It was frustrating especially when we had to come back to the campus by 11.00 PM. We were five persons. Two of us came out of the van and started walking at the railway gate. We collected all the details from the gateman about the trains available from Rau to Indore and Indore to Rau. The gateman told us that one of two trains was going to Indore. After few minutes, we saw three of us, who were sitting in the van were running towards the train. They were telling us to run and catch the train. We also followed them and managed to catch the train at Rau. As we were running short of time, none of cared about buying the ticket.
What a memorable experience it was!! We were travelling in a train without ticket. This was the desperation to watch a movie or if tickets of movie not available then roam around the theater/mall. Our journey started with discussing different analysis about arrival of TTE and strategy formulations to get rid of TTE. We reached at a conclusion that considering the fact we were in local train running on a meter guage and too coming form MHOW (Army Cantt), there was hardly any possibility of meeting a TTE. So, we reached Indore station in just 20 minutes and that too without encountering any mamu (TTE). It was 7.10 PM by the time we came out of the station. We aske the first autowala " Bhaiya TI mall chaloge"? He replied "haan chalenge, kitne log ho? We told "5 log hai..le chaloge kya"? haan haan le chalenge..50 rupaye lagenge..
haan bhaiya jaldi chalo...". We reached the dream destination TI (Treasure Island) Mall located on M.G. Road Indore by 7.30 PM.
Oh my God!! is this a mall or a mob? This was the first impression after entering the mall. I was more comfortable with those kind of overcrowded malls. I still have the memories of weekends at Garuda and Forum mall at Bangalore. But, for many of us, who were not in Bangalore, this was just like a mob. We started running towards ticket counter at 4th floor. We needed 3 tickets of any movie (The Dark Knight or Janne Tu Ya Jaane Na was ok for us..of course we couldn't have tolerated RGV's Contract). Two of us were not watching the movie because they had to meet some of their friends. We reached the counter and the screen was showing sold out for JTYJN and fast filling for The Dark Knight. Great..we managed to get last three tickets of " The Dark Knight." Fortunately, movie was awesome. It turned out to be a real entertainer and that too in the need. But, the movie was longer than usual English movies. It was of 2 hours and 40 minutes. That meant movie would be over by 10.15 PM. We booked the cab in advance so that we could manage to reach the campus by the deadline of 11.00 PM. Once the movie was over and people have their part of dinner (McD burgers), we left the mall at 10.30 PM. Anyhow we managed to enter the maingate at 10.57 PM. Thank god..we entered just in time!! What a great weeekend...I went outside the campus and watched a movie in theater!
Again I was back to normal campus life. Looking at timesheet of Monday, What assignments and pre-readings? Leave it.. I started thinking about the omnipresence of Gandhi in our life. Ye saala M.G. Road har city me aa jata hai..wo bhi prime locations pe..Gandhi ko notes pe aa ke chain nahi mila..sadko pe bhi apna naam likh diya!! M.G. Road Bangalore was like playground for me during last two years. Now, I reached M.G. Road Indore to enjoy weekends (it can't become the playground.. I don't have the liberties now!!). In this transition from M.G. Road Bangalore to M.G. Road Indore, I enjoyed the Without Ticket journey of Train. Hope to see the city soon!!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Studying Economics is Interesting!!
After moving across the width and height of the country for last two months, finally I am settled for two years in Indore (better to say IIM Indore!!). I will prefer to say IIM Indore or Planet-I (IIMI is commonly known as Planet-I.... especially among student communities) not because to add IIM, but in order to reflect the real feel of this place. This place is about 20 Kms from Indore Railway station and airport. So, from Monday to Saturday life remains confined to the boundaries of IIMI or maximum it reaches till Rau (the local market place..about 3-4 Kms from here). Study, enjoy or celebrate - for all the purposes, we have campus as the only choice and that makes it a different planet. I have not yet got a chance to roam around Indore. We planned to go to city on last Sunday but the riots and subsequent curfew screwed our plan.
I reached here on 29th June ( a day before registration). Soon after arrival to campus I was dropped to my room in an ambulance (no, I was not injured or ill!!). Thanks to Arjun Singh's rapid expansion plan of IITs and IIMs. The new hostels were not yet completed so, we ( 60 out of 240) have been accommodated in newly built staff quarters. These staff quarters are slightly far from the rest of hostels. This distance adds 5-10 minutes overhead to every work of my routine. Another bad thing about these staff quarters is that these are not connected to Institiute's LAN. This resulted in having no net connection. The good thing about these quarters is that I have got attached bathroom (so, no waiting queues even during peak hours!!!). Currently I am sharing room with another guy from Bangalore. Sharing room is another something that people usually doesn’t like. But given the current tight schedule and no net connection at room, most of the time room is occupied by only one person. The interesting point is that the current busy schedule makes the need of single room even less important!!!
Before coming to this place I was anticipating that the registration and hostel allotment process would be a real pain. I still have the bad memories of standing in long queues and filling up the same information in countless number of forms during my admission process at IIT Roorkee, 6 years back. Surprisingly here these official procedures were smoother than my imaginations. Don't know if things have changed so over the period of 6 years or B-schools are good at managing processes.
To add to my surprise was the loan disbursement process of banks. Here it was a tough competition between State Bank of India and State bank of Indore. They both were trying their best to lure students to opt for their loan. Bank staffs were chasing the students worse than the credit card agents use to chase employed persons in cities. They were running with readymade drafts and telling students - Sir, aapne loan liya kya?? agar nahi liya hai to ye check lijiye and kal deposit kar dijiye aur formalities kal complete karenge! Even though I have already got my loan approved from State Bank of India before coming here, the bank personnels arrived at my room 3-4 times with drafts in their hands. Everytime I said that I have already got the loan. Their question was - achcha, kahan se liya loan?? As I said, State Bank of India se liya hai! This was resulting in a relaxed smile on the face of State Bank of India's staff and a sad expression on the State Bank of Indore's staff.
On 29th night seniors called a meeting of our batch and they announced a shocking schedule for us for coming weeks. We were told to assemble at Hostel lawn at 5.15 AM. From 5.30 AM it was physical exercises for 1 hour and then from 6.30 AM was the one hour lecture of SAD (Self Awareness and Discovery!!) and most importantly YOGA for another one hour!! Just after listening this schedule, the instant reaction was what the fuck is this?? This was just not enough, we have to attend the classes from 9.30 AM and to add all these miseries I was staying 5-10 minutes away from hostel! But, now when those morning rituals are over and a story of past I can say that was not so bad. In fact that helped a bit to get accustomed to the routine for the coming 20 months. I am not going to write the details of these routines here.
On the day of registration we got some 8-9 books, few spiral notes, few notebooks and other stationery items. We also got a 2-3 page printed document and the staff told us--- this is the case for your tomorrow’s introductory class. Oh! What is this? We are supposed to start study from the very first day! The next day it was inaugural of our program. BCG, India Director, Dr. Harshvardhan was the chief guest. On the day of inaugural I woke up at 5.00 AM and went for morning rituals (Exercises, SAD, YOGA etc.). Once the morning rituals were over I came back to room and then attended the inaugural ceremony. I tried my best to be awake during the inaugural and luckily I succeeded in that. After that it was the introductory class and that too a case discussion and for 70 minutes!! A big challenge for me! People who know me can imagine that how can I attend a 70 minutes class without sleeping? Anyways I was trying my best to remain active in class. The first impression of the prof also made me aware that I have to be careful. What a cool prof… He asked 3 guys to stand in a corner for the whole class (that too after negotiation.. else he asked them to leave class!). The mistake of these guys was that they didn’t bring the case printout with them. After some 40-45 minutes I yawned badly and that prof saw me in the class of 62 at that particular moment. “Do this next time, leave the class” was his immediate reaction! The sitting arrangement (fix seat in the class with nameplates in front of your desk) adds another pain.
Life is not so bad. God can’t be always so harsh on me. Just some adjustments were required and as an average Indian I am also not bad at this life of adjustments! Now it has been about 2 weeks and I am used to this routine. After attending the few nightmare lectures (how can I forget Material Science by bcc..fcc, Physics by Kelu..and many more..) By some of the pathetic profs at IIT Roorkee it was not much difficult to get used to the lectures here. Here I can classify profs under the category of good and bad but, almost everyone try his/her best in order to make classes interactive. At least they are tech savy! There are 8 courses in this semester. Few of them are interesting and few others are just to be digested. Fortunately we have Economics. I like Economics and have got the prof who tries to make it more interesting with his crazy jokes. Few of the jokes I can recall…
While explaining indifference curve he spoke 20 units of clothing and 30 units of food and then he clarified, don’t worry about the units the concept is more important. Unit of cloth may be meter for Rekhajee and Centimeter for Rakhijee!!
While explaining the concept of consumer satisfaction, he spoke that the basic assumption here is that “more is better”. Then he suddenly reacts ..there may be exceptions.. more of spouses is not better or that may also be better for some people!!
The best of the lot was when he was explaining the concept of marginal utility. In order to explain that once you get more amount of anything you are less willing to sacrifice any other thing for an additional unit of that thing (which you already have more). He told.. ”do you watch these IIFA awards, Filmfare awards…you would have noticed that for the first song the actresses/actors come fully dressed and then start removing their cloths very fast and when in the end they left with two or three pieces whatever you say they completely stop removing cloths. While that is time when people eagerly waits for the removal of those 2-3 pieces!!! What an example…now no one can forget the concept of marginal utility!!
Though being a South Indian he always enjoys pulling legs of South Indian eating habits. He never forgets to site an example of Kellogs. “Kellogs came India 10-15 years back with a goal in mind of changing the breakfast habit of Indians even if it takes 30-40 years. He says it seems almost impossible. Go to Chennai…in morning anywhere you will get Idalies at the rate of 50 paisa an Idaly. In Rs. 5 you will get 10 Idalies. So, why a south Indian would prefer paying Rs. 90 for 200 Gms of Kellogs instead of paying Rs. 5 for 10 Idalies!!!”
This is not all about the Economics. There are countless of graphs, theories and equations. But, yes studying Economics is interesting!
Some of my good friends might be wondering that I have not written anything about Indore yet whereas they claim I came to Indore by choice! Great! When I hear that I have come to IIMI by choice it adds some height to my greatness! Getting only 2 calls and finally converting IIMI only, I didn’t have a choice. But, these comments make me feel that I have opted for Indore. Last week riots and then subsequent curfew made it impossible to visit Indore city yet. This weekend it will be preparation of reports, presentations and studying for quizzes. So, It seems I will not be able to comment on Indore for coming few days. In the end what all I can say is..yes, I am enjoying life at IIMI and Indore!!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday Special: Special Sunday
Slowly or rapidly the time was approaching near to Wednesday, 28th May, 2008, a day when I will leave Bangalore after being stayed here for about two years. These two years of my life have been really special. I enjoyed every bit of it. In these two years I have experienced a wide spectrum of events and changes. Starting my professional career and then working in a pure technology based startup and then finally moving to pursue higher studies in management field, visiting pubs frequently to complete teetotaler for sometime and currently drinking socially, a naive smoker to frequent smoker and then non-smoker, curly hair to straight long hair and now Gandhi baba style (only this option is left now!!!) and many more- life has gone through uncountable big and small changes. It was not only me who has gone through so many transitions (changes), I have seen many people around me changing greatly!!
Coming to Bangalore, I loved moment of Bangalore life. The pleasant climate of Bangalore or worst traffic jam, having bottoms-up at pubs or vomiting after that and lying the balcony, working late in night at office (on few occasions though) or watching movie at Inox during office hours- I learned to enjoy every dimension Bangalore life.
Yesterday was the last Sunday (weekend) of this brief stint of mine at Bangalore. What a special Sunday it was! Karnataka got rid of dirty politics of Thande-Makkala party (father and sons party). Now hopefully state will get a stable and professional governance (hope so..more the time will tell!!). My day started at 10.30 in morning with the challenging task of talking to Landlord to get back the security deposit of house. Thank to Bhattu and Bajaj, they forced me to wake up by 10.30 and to my luck I was able to meet the landlord after a week of failed attempts. After that I had Mashala Dosa ( unusual..breakfast and that also MashalaDosa!!) at a restaurant near the house. After that I had to go to M.G. Road (almost like mulle ki daud masjid tak..during two years in Bangalore, I have been mostly to the places around M.G. Road-Airport Road) to meet Jaya and Bajaj. Though meeting on Sunday at M.G. Road has become a routine for last few months, today I was expecting it to be a bit different. On reaching there I was greeted by a giant size farewell card. The size of card is causing problems to me. I have not yet sorted out what to do with that card. it's so beautiful that throwing it out is not an option and at the same time it's do big that carrying it safely is a big challenge. I will try my best to find out what to do with this card! Along with the card there was a kurta for me (good dress to face North-Indian summer!). After the farewell gifts distribution it was routine thing. We had our lunch and then went to Amoeba for bowling (one of the addictions that got developed in Bangalore). Knowing that this was my last weekend at Bangalore, I was feeling a bit different (but not enough to make me emotional!!). Then it was the time for Jaya's class. I received a call from Bhattu. Awesome..Bhattu invited us for a dinner tonight!!! After doing partial packing lunch/dinner at home is not an option. My good luck..I was going to have good dinner. Instantly I asked Bajaj to go to his room and change his socks (though he didn't take bath for last two days..taking bathe today was his choice..but it was his socks which has almost killed me yesterday.).
In evening we went to a new place for dinner. We opted for buffet and to our surprise there was no starters in that buffet. We ordered starters separately and then had main course. Suddenly Bhattu started feeling the need of Alcohol and to add t Bhattu's hard luck they were only serving mocktails. Daal-Baati ( A dish from Rajsthan) was the mystery of our dinner. I found it totally tasteless. Bajaj was busy in explaining the ways to eat this and the waiter was telling some different way. Finally, Bajaj added the correct information regarding this to the waiter,s mind. During the dinner we discussed a wide range of issues (except mostly discussed topics...). We finished with the dinner and came back to room. For Bajaj and Bhattu, tomorrow is again another Monday.
So, they have already slept to welcome another Monday. I started my packing after preparing mentally for last few days. After finishing a part of packing work, I got lost in recollecting the memories of this special Sunday and so finally wrote this Sunday special.
Hope that I will not suffer from amnesia (I am not suffering from this currently..in fact forgetting few things are most difficult for me!) and will cherish this special Sunday forever!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Welldone...Mr. Lalit Modi
Indian Premier League aka IPL is a big hit this summers. That is not just the case with Indian audiences, in fact Ricky Ponting needed to appeal to Aussies to watch their current ongoing test series with West Indies. The mastermind behind the planning and so well execution of IPL Mr. Lalit Modi well deserves the attentions for his administrative capabilities. I am not a big fan of Lalit , but in the way he has handled the current Jaipur crisis was definitely admirable and laudable.
When Mr. Lalit first came up with the idea of IPL to crush the already existing ICL, it didn't impress me. Especially the monopolistic approaches BCCI and Lalit used to give IPL an unfair advantage over ICL is something which I can never appreciate. IPL has realy become "Manoranjan Ka Baap" this summers. The tournament has attracted a lot of attraction for On-field as well as Off-field activities. A number of less heard names have established themselves on this big platform and few of the big names have failed to justify their worth. Someone has experienced perhaps the costliest slap in the professional arena (Slap to Sreeshanth costs around 800 thousand USD to Bhajji.).
Going well with all these hype and hoopla, IPL faced one of the worst tragedies of our nation when Jaipur was rocked by 7-8 serial blasts within 30 minutes on 13th May evening. These blasts put a serious question mark in front of IPL organizers about the matches scheduled in Jaipur. In fact Bangalore franchise came up with the idea to shift the match between Jaipur-Bangalore which was to be played on 16th at Jaipur, to Bangalore. Shifting the match could have easily solved the problem for the organizers. Especially when the foreigner players were thinking to even leave the IPL in between, shifting the match venue was the easiest thing to do in order to save the IPL. But, this could have solved the problem in short run and in long run it could have created a lot more challenges and embarrassment to a good administrator/organizer.
When all the electronic media was trying to cover every moment of the news that Warne and Co. is thinking to leave IPL in between Mr. Modi gave the example of a smart administrator and manage the whole thing as he wanted and more importantly what was required. Leave the politics apart, any change in IPL would have encouraged the terrorists. Mr. Modi has successfully sent the message to terrorist organizations, though we lack in political will but we are no more a coward nation and these inhuman act of terrorist will not damage our human spirit. Well done Lalit!!! Other sports too need administrators like you..
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Mr. Ramadoss: A politician or a celebrity
As a software engineer or a member of educated Indian youth population, politics or policy review is not my cup of tea. But, there are so many things happening around in the Indian political arena, it becomes almost impossible to not react to all of these happenings. I read and listen to these political news but mostly prefer to update my information database rather than writing my reaction. After reading the statement our honorable health minister Mr. Ramadoss regarding the relation between heart attacks of actors and their chips consumption habit, I can't stop myself from reacting on this.
In a country like ours, to become successful politician demands a lot. One need to be equipped with numerous skills and also need too hone these skills with course of time to have a bright political future. Mr. Ramadoss understands "The Art of Indian Politics" very well. He is the master in the art of publicity. Before Ramadoss one could hardly recall any health minister getting so much of media attention if not for good reasons then even for bad reasons. But in case of Ramadoss, during his four years of tenure as health minister hardly any month has passed without him in the limelight of electronic and print media. Whether it was his campaign against Cigarettes , campaign against colas , campaign against junk foods or personal fight against Dr. Venugopal(former AIIMS Director), Ramadoss has always stolen the limelight of electronic media better than any other glamorous celebrity for that matter. He didn't even need a Britney Spears act to remain a hot topic in media circle!!!
For a moment leave his personal grudge against Dr. Venugopal apart. He started appealing to celebrities like Rajnikanth, Big B, SRK to avoid smoking on screen and even enacted a law to minimize the on screen smoking. Not a bad idea...It will be really great if percentage of smokers go down with time. He started his war against Colas and junk foods...again a good move. But, one can question his motto behind all these steps. Were all these moves meant for achieving the real goodness for the society or just to gain the media publicity. I think the later was the primary motive behind all these campaigns.If one looks closely at all these campaigns then he/she must agree to the fact that these are the secondary goals for Mr. Ramadoss as the health minister of our country. His primary concern should have been improving the health services and public health infrastructure of country.
Why is he just bothered about smoking and its bad effects. Why is he just caring for the heart attacks of actors due to the chips consumption(It is what he thinks)?? Why not he issued any statement regarding his achievements in improving the public health infrastructure and health awareness among rural masses. He never issued any statement regarding his and his ministry's effort to ensure that malnutrition among children below the age of 5 years(currently 46 % of the children are underweight) will decrease. What is the achievement of health minister to ensure that the death rate of pregnant women in rural areas due to lack of Iron and other minerals will decrease. Nothing need to be mentioned about infant mortality rate and other health index. Rural health infrastructure of our country is in such a pathetic condition that it again needs no explanations.
Coming to the budgetary provisions for public health services, in terms of percentage of GDP or percentage of budgetary expenditure towards health services we stood below to the some of less developed nations. Fortunately Ramadoss is a minister in a government where the allies like left are more concerned about airports than roads, higher education than elementary education so, he doesn't need to think about his primary duties and obligation.
Great fortune Mr. Ramadoss!!! You can continue with your political stunts rather than concentrating on real ground work. You will gain goodwill of masses by criticizing SRK for on screen smoking and by your word war against colas and junk foods. You will please the rural masses by simply enforcing the intern doctors for rural posting rather than addressing the real issue of crunch of doctors in country. Celebrities need to take a crash course from you to get media limelight and that too with good reasons!!!
Friday, December 14, 2007
The Big Rural Debate
Dr. Ramadoss is well known for creating the buzz all around with his steps and decisions . Though, on detail and in depth analysis of most of the measures taken by him will suggest that they were succeeded in creating the hype and hoopla but failed miserably to achieve the desired goal. Starting with the ban on smoking in movies, he made his presence felt across the country. Why didn't he realized that movies can be blamed up to an extent for promoting cigarettes, but what about the desi stuffs like beedi and other form of tambakoo. These desi stuffs are popular in the areas and among the masses who hardly follow any movie trend. If statistics are to be believed then these are the desi stuffs which are claiming more lives than the branded cigarettes. Coming to the point of promotion of cigarettes through movie, why not minister is taking in account the people who are smoking has got brain of their own and they can read the warning written on the cigarettes packs. Moreover these smokers are educated and very much aware of harmful effects of cigarettes. So, just by banning smoking in movies nothing can be achieved except the cheap publicity stunt for the minister. If minister is really worried about smoking related diseases he should first ensure the ways to curb the beedi and other desi stuffs among the rural and uneducated citizens.
Recently, minister played another card and this time he was in no mood to lose the battle. He has played his ace this time and therefore wants to make maximum out of this. He made the provision of an additional year of rural internship for medical students through out the country. By doing this he thinks he can address the problem of poor health services in rural India. May be minister have succeeded in scaling his popularity to another highest level but, this is no way going to improve the poor condition of rural health services. Probably this step will be more helpful to minister and his party and alliance in the coming parliamentary elections(which may come anytime..all depends on Mr. Karat..whether he can bite or can just bark??).
This step of minister raised an endless debate all around. People are still finding its usefulness and on the other side there are people who are in no mood to accept such dictatorial decisions. Why these politicians always try to divert the focus of people from the real problem? Is this forced one year rural posting the solution to improve poor rural health condition or the solution lies somewhere else?
The fundamental problem is not the disparity in the number of doctors available per 100,000 citizen in urban and rural India. If we consider the total number of registered medical practitioners(including some of retired and emigrated) in India, it comes out around 0.6 million. This means on an average there are 50 doctors per 100,000 of population and some statistics suggest that this figure is about 150-200 per 100,000 of population in case of urban India. So, overall availability of doctors is abysmally low as compared to US and European countries (almost 1/6th). Even figure of the urban India is not very impressive. It is also lower than the national average of western countries. So, where is the question of forcing the doctors to go to rural areas? The basic problem is that we have lesser number of medical colleges to cater to the requirement of our country and government needs to address this problem immediately. If government is not in a position to fund more medical colleges then it should ask for private money in this sector. But, why instead of looking for a practical solution to address the problem of poor rural health system minister was busy in playing political game??
Currently India produces about twenty thousands medical graduates per year and simply looking at our present requirements this figure should be at hundred thousands per annum. So, minister if you are really worried about the health of rural citizen then just go and put all your effort in creating more and more medical colleges. Please stop this political game. This time minister didn't spared even media. He went on saying that media is dragging him in controversies because he belongs to MBC(most backward caste). Enough...minister rural-urban, caste...you used every weapon this time.Please..please..stop it.
A simple question to minister--India stands at 171th position among 175 countries in the term of public health expenditure to GDP ratio. So, minister you are the best person to answer this question. Also, can you tell with this condition of public health expenditure how can you improve the poor health facilities of rural India where poor people are mostly dependent on public health services.
Leave these political stunts and try to improve the rural health services honestly!!!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Why do we need blinds to promote sunglasses: Just the glamor or another show of hypocrisy
Yes, I am talking about the "lead India" campaign launched by "Times of India" group to celebrate the completion of sixty years of Indian independence. This concept was really great and publicity was also good. But, in order to make maximum out of this campaign they submitted to glamor. They chose Shahrukh Khan and Abhishek Bachchan as the brand ambassadors for this campaign. This move to publicize the event forced me to think the very basics about the system and our mindset.
Why we always treat politics as a contagious disease?? This was the campaign with the tag line "India seeks her future leaders" and there were Sharukh Khan and Abhishek Bachchan to promote it. Now we have a handful of young politicians who dared to be the part of so called muddy and dirty roads of Indian politics. So, why not some out of these were chosen to promote the event? The campaign was about leading and attracting young promising individuals to be the part of politics and still organizers were trying to avoid politics and politician! It is already a well accepted fact that the current pathetic state of Indian politics is because of negligence shown towards it by intellectuals and promising individuals and yet we are following the same path. So, what this campaign was trying to convey?? This was yet another TV show which was focused to get limelight and increase TRP for its programs. Shahrukh has told on numerous occasion that he has no plan to join politics and even he has made a statement "I am too good to be into the politics". Almost similar case is there with Abhishek. He has also not taken any initiative which shows his association with politics. In some aspects even our young politicians may be wrong and examples of bad persons. But, these are the very few individuals who has shown the courage to be the part of Indian political system. So, definitely making any statement about leadership suits them better than these showpiece items like Shahrukh or Abhishek. How can we really improve the state of Indian political system until young bright intellectuals start to become part of it and those who are not the part of it don't compare it with dirty gutter of city. Our attitude towards politics is the major reason behind the current state of affairs. Whenever we hear of politics and politician we simply accept any argument. We forget the fact that only the insiders of system can bring the changes in the system in long run.These dummy icons can't bring any change to this system. If we recall the recent presidential elections, a majority of intellectuals were stressing on the need of an apolitical candidate. But, at the same time why we forget the fact that these will be politicians who will directing this nation. So, up to what time we can avoid politics and politicians?? Instead we need better politicians and that may change the face of the politics. In Indian democracy president has very few powers and the parliament is most powerful. If we think out of so many parliamentarians and so many politicians if we can't a find a suitable candidate for this post then how can we hope for better future of this nation which is to be governed by the bunch of these politicians??
Choosing these muppets to promote this campaign reflects our hypocrisy. We speak something else and practice something very different. The time has come when we need to change our thinking. We need to be more practical. We have to stop this habit of using blinds to promote sunglasses because these blinds look good. What about their eyes?? Let us choose some average looking person who has eyes. We need to change our attitude towards politics and politicians. We have to stop the habit of simply treating politics and all politicians together as a dirty and polluted system. Instead we need to treat every politician as an individual.
Hope, while celebrating the 70th or 75th independence such campaign like "lead India" will use some politicians as their brand ambassadors in place of these cartoon characters!! Also hope we will not be accepting these blinds promoting sunglasses, lames promoting skates!!!
Friday, November 16, 2007
What a bad idea sirjee??
I got the idea to write this post while watching a very popular ad campaign of Idea Mobile with having Abhishek Bachchan playing the role of a sarpanch. Though this ad seems to be very popular these days because it is being telecasted very frequently but what I didn't like about this is that it tries to make the mockery of a very complicated and long existing problem of Indian social system and moreover a curse to society- the so called caste system. This ad just tries to undermine the real problem behind this caste, creed, race or religion based discrimination. This matter is not such that one can make fun of it. This needs some serious thought and research not the funny advertisement.
Start looking closely at nay of these discriminations caste based, religion based, race based or of some other form the problem is far more complicated and has many more background to it than just a name. Take caste based system for example- at the macro level names today can hardly tell anything about a person's caste and at micro level i.e. at a village level it's not the name rather it's the image of person in front of you and your thinking leads to caste based treatment. The root cause of the problem is not the name rather it's the mindset and the values inculcated by the parents, teachers and moreover by the social system. Just you try thinking of someone's cast by looking at his/her name. Believe me you will not get any idea about it unless you really care about the caste. So, what is the real cause?? So, the need is to change the mindset of people and not their name.
These caste or religion comes in picture only where we want them. Even if the name reveals caste or religion , things remain unchanged where we are not at all interested in such nonsense details. Take the example of Hindi film industry. It is mostly dominated by the Khans. But, how many persons have you find yet telling that he/she didn't like a movie because a Muslim was the actor in it. Because we watch movie for entertainment and that is why we don't show any interests in actor's caste/religion. Another good example is Cricket. Irfan Pathan- the guy who has seen the highs and lows of life at a very young age. But the sides he saw because of his game and his religion was of no use and had not played any role.
So, at any stage of life these caste/creed/religion comes to play a role only when the people want to take use of it!! In this technically advanced world, these birth based (caste/creed/race/religion based) discrimination is real shame on human beings. In India these catse and religion based systems have been real hurdle in the path of development and even a danger to the integrity and sovereignty of secular democracy of India. Our political and religious leaders have gained maximum out of it. This is because of them the walls of religious and caste systems are still rock solid. We need to demolish the walls of such systems. We need to treat every human being in a manner which is not affected by his/her birth time credentials.
So, by just replacing the name with numbers will not give the solution. This may just result in a funny ad. If we will still remain interested in such details of caste and religion then the number system will not stop us for sure. In fact, because of technical and legal complications the phone numbers are more hierarchical (though in geographical perspective but then also if someone is too bothered about a person details..he will decode out of number also). So, even in number based system it will take hardly any time in drawing the lines of caste and raising the walls of religion. The basic need is that we need to understand the importance of being a human. We need to realize that these man made boundaries are of no use. We need to change our mindsets first and then if needed change these names!!
So, please no more funny ads on any serious topic. Stop this please..What a bad idea sirjee!!!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Rahul Gandhi: The controversy child of Indian politics or just a soft target
After leaving his regular job of financial consultant in UK, Rahul returned India in 1999. In the 1999 general parliamentary election he appeared alongside his mother in the election campaign. But, still that time it was not very clear that when will he become the part of active politics?Later he became the member of Congress party and then contested the election form Amethi parliamentary constituency in 2004 and currently representing Amethi as an MP. He joined politics and moreover Congress party during a period when it was going through its worst time. But, since the day he became the part of Indian political system a long run debate has started. He has always been questioned about his capabilities. Some people just expected a miracle from him while others were busy flashing his failures and mistakes. Were this all hypes because he was the son of former Indian prime minister and moreover the fifth generation person from a family which has ruled independent India for more than thirty years? All these tags which Rahul was carrying since his birth have certainly helped in entering and rising in Indian politics very fast but at the same time because of these tags he has always been surrounded by critics and controversies.
If some unconfirmed news are to be believed then Rahul has paid really a heavy price to become the part of Indian politics. His split from his long time Columbian girlfriend Juvenita was the huge cost he paid to be in Indian politics as suggested by his mother Sonia Gandhi. He did this in order to avoid controversies but even this price proved of very little use in keeping him away from controversies. Some of these controversies were of such nature that Rahul could have hardly help himself.
One controversy started with a cheap remark on Rahul by Gujrat chief minister in an election campaign. By calling Rahul "the hybrid bachra of jersy cow" Modi has crossed all the limits of cheap political publicity stunt. But, was this controversy making any sense or it was just made to check the temperament of an aspiring young politician who has hardly experienced the muddy and dirty roads of Indian politics? Before making such remarks Modi must have thought about its validity. If Rajeev Gandhi opted to marry a foreign lady then what was wrong in this? If Rahul's mother is of non-Indian origin so, what unconstitutional scenario does it create? Modi must have feel ashamed on him by making such irresponsible statement.
Another major controversy came in picture during March 2005, when a PIL was filed by a group of lawyers in Allahabad high court to set up a formal inquiry in Rahul encounters with FBI almost four years ago. Following are the reports from TOI.
Rahul's $0.2 mn encounter with FBI
8 Mar 2005, 2043 hrs IST, IANS
LUCKNOW: A suit has been filed in the high court here seeking information about the alleged detention of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and his Colombian girlfriend by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2001. The petition, filed by four lawyers, is likely to be heard Wednesday.
According to the public interest litigation, Gandhi, the son of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and his companion were released after being detained at Boston airport following the intervention of the Prime Minister's Office.
At that time, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Indian prime minister and Gandhi was not a member of the Lok Sabha. "Vajpayee's principal secretary and then national security adviser Brajesh Misra spoke to top US authorities to enable Rahul Gandhi and his girlfriend to get away," claimed Prem Chandra Sharma, who moved the court along with three others.
Sharma claimed to have gathered this information through the Internet and said he had downloaded certain documents to substantiate his allegations. The petition alleged that Gandhi was found in illegal possession of about $200,000. And it was in that connection that the FBI had detained him along with his girlfriend Sep 21, 2001.
The FBI was said to have sought an explanation about Gandhi's possession of such a huge amount of money, which he was unable to provide, the petition said. The petition sought a writ of mandamus to the Indian ambassador to the US as well as the union home secretary to make a disclosure about the entire episode.
After this date this episode never came in limelight again. Don't know what was the real case??
The real test started during the UP state assembly elections earlier this year. It was wellknown for a long that in UP the condition of Congress party was worse than ever this time. Despite the fact that there were many complex fundamental problems were the reason behind the party's current condition many congress party leader were expecting miracles from Rahul. They were thinking that by projecting Rahul as the face of Congress in assembly election they can overturn the party's fate in a short span of months. but, was this expectation of magical change (jaadoo) in this real world was justifiable? After all Rahul is not a superman, he is also a normal human being. On the other hand the leaders from other parties who were busy in relating the failure of Congress party in the UP election to Rahul's political capabilities should have thought rationally.
How the failure of a party as a whole can be related to a newcomer of politics? That also at a time when party is already going through lean patch, the overall political landscape of the nation has taken a major shift and the just the charisma of Nehru-Gandhi family was no more enough to win an election. Again Rahul was victimized for none of his mistakes.
During the UP election campaign itself, Rahul's statement at a rally created another major controversy. This time it was something which Rahul has given birth to. He made a statement mentioning that Babri demolition would not have happened if anyone from Nehru-Gandhi family have been in the power. By making this statement he undermined his own party great leader and former prime minister P.V. Narsimha Rao's capabilities. Also, he forgot the very basic fact that India is a democratic nation. It is another story that his family has ruled this nation most of the time in post independence era but that doesn't change the India's status as a democratic nation. by making this statement he was not helping his party. In fact he was attacking his own party's failure. He also quoted the division of Pakistan as one of the achievements of Nehru-Gandhi family. Again he didn't realize the sensitivity of this issue. He also forgot that this kind of statements may lead to communal vote-bank shift. These statements created a major controversy this time with people from opposition and from his own party questioning these remarks. This time Rahul's political immaturity was uncovered and he had to face its consequences.
The most recent controversy was something that doesn't make any sense. In the Congress executive committee meeting Rahul has asked for major reforms in party's charter. He raised the points which are genuine and practical in nature. He questioned the validity of few code of conducts mentioned in the party's charter. Wearing Khadi all the times, abstain from taking alcohol and perhaps land ceiling and a few more code of conducts were under the scrutiny. By raising these points Rahul tried to be more practical and realistic. But he was forgetting that we live in a gernotocratic country where people are not ready to easily accept reforms instead they were happy in carrying legacy. The time when these conducts would have been introduced these were making sense. But, change and reform is inevitable. But, a nation as a whole we are very much allergic to change and reforms. So, again a progressive statement made by this young man created hue and cry inside his own party. Finally, he retracted from his statement or moreover tried to cool down the situation by making the statement that he has found Khadi as the most comfortable dress to wear and he never made any such statements regarding removal of Khadi from Congress party's code of conduct. Clearly it was an act of damage control.
Rahul has climbed the steps of political ladder of Indian politics very fast though not as comparable to his father, because of his family and a number of trusted followers of his family in the party. But, because of this Gandhi-Nehru tag has made the public life of Rahul much more vulnerable to controversies. It is not always the case that he creates controversy instead he is made the soft target. But, Rahul has to learn to face these controversies boldly and to rise in the Indian politics with all these misfortunes.
