An appeal to all the Protesters: "India Against Corruption"

This blog entry is an appeal to all the protesters on the roads of India who are fighting for a change.

As I decided to write this appeal to all the people protesting on the roads of India at this moment, I began to think about how to start my appeal letter. Whether it is supposed to be addressed as “to all Anna Hazare supporters” or “to all Anti corruption movement volunteers” or “to all supporters of Jan lok pal bill”. The Anti corruption protest volunteers  is very apt right now for a reason that the people of India have become frustrated and are desperate for a change and wish to see a corruption free India for which they have taken to the roads demanding a change and not exactly for the bill. they assume "the bill" is a path to their destination,A panacea.As I look at the news about the things happening around India, The Team Anna Hazare has support of the public who want corruption to end but these supporters are not exactly for the bill they are putting forth. It is indeed a misconception if anyone feels that the people on the roads are actually protesting for the bill, instead they are out there for a corruption free India. And the Team Anna Hazare has to be applauded for being successfully able to channelize the anger and patriotism of the public into a form of support for their bill.  I am confident enough to quote that not more than 10 % of people protesting on the roads even know the broad sense of the bill they are marching for , leave alone being aware about the minute details that could have a deep affect on their daily lives. They just want corruption to end. That is their motto and that is their ultimate goal, to have a better life in India. But, one must understand that, mere forming of a bill doesn’t end the age long culture of corruption. Let’s consider for example the problems of Traffic or problems relating to society which should have ceased long ago, had mere forming of rules and bills had profound effect on the way of thinking of people. It’s more about traffic sense and social responsibilities when it comes to curbing the problems I mentioned above, and Courage and willingness to take our country forward as an entire nation is what is required to fight corruption. I strongly believe in our country's democracy and have faith in our parliament. I know we have faced charges of corruption but parliament is something that is sacred to our nation. For, it is the place where decisions regarding our nation’s development are taken and the people whom we elect participate in with our hopes and goals. I agree that in a democracy, a citizen has a right to give his opinions about the proceedings in the country and has a right to express his views but to compel parliament to pass a bill formulated by Anna Hazare with in a stipulated amount of time is senseless when there are in fact various versions of lokpal prepared by other social anti corruption activists. Well at the end of the day, it is the parliament whom we will end up blaming, if anything goes wrong to us and our nation through this bill after it is passed in haste, as demanded right now, as they are responsible and answerable to us.

Hence, here goes my letter.

My fellow Indians and Anti corruption protest volunteers,

For now, we the people should first realize the difference between supporting Anti corruption movement and Supporting Jan Lokpal bill & Team Anna Hazare . Understand the direction in which we are moving by these protests , insist the government to consider the bills prepared by Anna Hazare’s team, Aruna Roy’s team and formulate a bill that is suitable for our nation and that which will not put our constitutionally guaranteed rights at stake.  

We don’t need a second Independence, India is already an independent country. We want independence from social problems and poverty in our country. We want democracy to sustain in our nation. We don’t want or need Anarchy.

Kindly “Save Democracy”  

Thank you & Have a safe & Peaceful protest.

Independence day : ReAliTy ChEcK

When the countries of the world were choosing sides between the two major super powers, a nation in the Southeast Asia was taking shape. With Peaceful and non violent protests as her weapons she marched towards her destiny, The Independence. 15^th of August 1947, India won her Independence from the colonial rule. Hence formed a nation which during the course of time overcomes various hurdles to reach the place where she is today, a nation that can influence the world in all aspects of society, from economy to culture. India  which was predicted to be down & broken within no time after her Independence by the who’s and who of the world  , showed its  strong willpower and courage to stand by her principles  by not aligning into either of the two super powers at that time and continued its journey towards development as an Independent nation. India took the path of democracy and is celebrated today around the world as the largest democracy and an example to many other nations around the world.

Each year, Independence Day is celebrated all over the country and the heroes of the struggle are remembered and paid respect for their sacrifices to the country. Independence Day celebrations compel me to think  how independent we really are of the problems that have been tied to India since years. Let’s take this auspicious occasion to also remember the challenges and problems we face this day as a nation and recollect the dream our freedom fighters had for the nation and where we are in the course of fighting these problems. 64 years into Independence, India still faces challenges, some of which have been with her since 15^th of august 1947 and some fresh new ones. I decided to name a few in this blog post.

1)    Food, Fuel & Population: The food inflation today is high, close to double figures again, which with the ever rising prices of food make the life of the common man difficult in these days. The reasons for this may be attributed mainly to a high population growth rate and also a downfall in agricultural production.  The downfall in agricultural production may be attributed to the little use of technology and minimum awareness amongst the farmers and little support from the government to farmers. Added to this is the heavy rise in fuel prices which also contribute to the food prices hike. Awareness about population control and its effects is one of the possible solutions to these problems.

2)   Women & Society: This day,we have women holding the top ranks in various government & private institutions but simultaneously on the other hand , we still have women being subjected to oppression & crimes .The fact that the practices like dowry system and other caste related social crimes are  still persistent in India makes me wonder how backward as a society we have become after 64 years of Independence. Nation is regarded as our Mother and Respect to women is the essence of our culture. We should let there be equality and let everyone live peacefully. The other major drawback in the society is the exploitation of the common man in the name of god and  then establishment of groups of religious wings which is not a practice prescribed for a secular country like India. There should certainly be awareness about this aspect and we should come out of this practice of blind faith for a better nation .

 3)   Security:  The most important aspect for a prosperous country is security. Internal and international. The border issues with Pakistan and China are certainly one of those issues which should be solved sooner than later for good to the world & our contry. Added to this is the cross border infiltration of Anti social activists and security lapses which results in chaos,explosions & destruction every now and then that disrupt the peace & harmony in the nation. Added to this are the in state self trained military, anti-government naxalites, (who are fighting for the cause of liberating the tribes and poor farmers from the oppression and lead lives of extreme poverty and forgotten even after years of Independence), have  a strong foothold all along the entire east coast of the nation. All these are  woes to the nation. There is a constant war between the Police and Naxalites in these areas which is a bother to public who is caught in between this violence exchange.

4)   Culture Corruption: India has picked up a culture of corruption. In recent times there have been various instances where various crowds from the government servants to civil servants to defense personnel to media have been involved in acts of greed. The resultant distrust on the government servants amongst the citizens of the nation gave rise to supporters of Anti Corruption law throughout the country. At present, the disagreement between these civil society representatives and the public elected representatives to reach to a common decision point seems to result nothing but disruption of the everyday life of the common man.

5)   States of uncertainty: Jammu Kashmir is one place which has been under unrest ever since Independence. The constant clash between the separatists and their counterparts has left the beautiful valley in chaos.  Added to this is the rise of protests in states like Andhra Pradesh demanding a bifurcation of the state and the demand for Ghorkaland etc etc is making the government struggle to maintain peace in these places. And this has been hampering the development in these places and India as a country.

6)   Crisis, Ruling Crisis: The problems mentioned above and various others which have been building up on our nation have left the ruling government without any answers and have been deprived of trust of the public. The inefficiency to control protests & lack of ability to give a credible answer to the public is a negative for democracy. Also, the lack of a strong opposition party in the nation also adds to the woes of the situation. There isn’t any credible, able, party visible in the near future to take up the office. This is definitely unhealthy for democracy and something that fears me along with other citizens of the country.

These are a few of various things that trouble our nation. Yet, our nation stands strong. It stands as an example of the secular nation, celebrating various cultures and religions in one place. The unity when it comes to dealing problems or celebrating festivals and occasions makes the India a special place.

The solution to all these problems is education of the masses-which is not a solution that can be done over a week’s time or lesser but the education of masses will give the masses a voice. This gives an advantage through awareness while they say their voice during the democratic practice of elections. This will make sure the right one takes the office and makes right decisions for the nation. For now, those in the office should take a thought and help make our country a better one than it already is. Let us take this holiday to think about these problems once again which have been troubling us since a long time. The government and public should act together for solving these issues. A mere blog post can never solve the problems that are decades old. But a though about them before a loud celebration may help in solving them.

It is true that no nation in this world is a perfect one but desiring to be perfect is the first step towards achieving the dream “utopia” and Let me Wish you a happy Independence Day because we should definitely celebrate Independence Day and also strive for independence from the problems of our nation.

Save "Democracy" !

Fast for a cause-Article 19 of the Indian constitution gives its citizens, the right to freedom of expression and speech, the right to go on a hunger strike as a mode of expressing their dissent over unlawful acts or injustice in the country.

India has witnessed numerous incidents protests via fast for, a purpose, achieving democracy and independence pre independence, to stand against various instances of unruly actions of the government since independence.

Recent developments in the country, needless to mention about the shameful acts, like the looting of public funds and vandalizing the hopes of people, have made the people restless and desperate for a change to see a clean society. This gave the social activists fighting for lokpal bill, a bill that is designed to attack anyone who is guilty of corruption irrespective of their wealth/power and other virtues which make the law disabled to bring them to justice, a chance to put forward their movement into limelight in hope to get the long awaited lokpal bill passed-which one the flip side is a bit over reaching than it is supposed to and also undemocratic in some ways  and loosely flawed  which could be corrected to match and benefit a democratic country like ours. In this scenario to start debates for setting up lokpal bill a fast-unto death-protest was under taken by Shri Anna Hazare during early 2011 which was welcomed with huge reception by the Indian crowd including over the internet. The talks began and ended in despair as the two teams, government & social activists, failed to come to a conclusion over the bill.

Now what Anna Hazare has done unknowingly in this process of protesting is that he has sparked off a trend in the society. Trends which like a medicine can turn harmful when taken without a prescription and even poisonous when in overdoses. Immediately after the talks broke for Lokpal raised into limelight the yoga guru of India, Baba Ramdev and sparked a controversy when he narrated his plans to build an army against the Indian state. Then the infamous fast by Tinku urging the government to give him admission into IITs.

The support to fasts by Anna Hazares and Ramdevs may be attributed largely to the lost hopes of people over the government and partly to the media. The media on the same lines can be blamed for being biased, not many people are even aware of the 10 year old -still ongoing- fast by Irom Sharmila fighting for removal of arms act from Manipur or about the 115 day old fast which ended in death of the protester for saving river Ganga,Swami Nigamananda.

Now what I fear from the most is that this phenomenon of picking up fasts for every desire on mind and expecting positive results in return may actually demean the respect protest via fast has earned till date. Even more than this, the wide range of unrest that is created by these fasts have an impact on the life of a common man. As I quote “a common middle class man may afford losing money from his pocket without his knowledge but cannot tolerate losing his daily bread. Even worse the government may rule out protests like these as attempting to committing suicide as mandated under the Indian Penal Code and cease them permanently which is again undemocratic and leads to unrest .

With continued protests and threats like these which results in building unrest amongst the people ,halt the progress of the nation and destabilize the society and may actually lead to downfall of democracy and state which is totally unnecessary for a country like India. Instead I would recommend the protesters for Lokpal to either build a bill that is feasible and ready to adapt to Indian democracy or to contest in the coming elections and lead a party to change the society in a more democratic manner rather than what is happening now. And for the government I urge them to open their eyes to work efficiently and effectively to curb any further corruption. Overall it is a vicious circle.

March 8th views

March 8^th, 2011 made into the history for its news of assassination of a female student Radhika near her college in Delhi, India, and another incident in Australia where a woman was subjected to attempted harassment & other similar crimes against women elsewhere in the world. While this was a regular affair in daily news, the day also marked the celebrations of international women’s day all over the world. While the entire world celebrated to honour every woman in this world, I decided to talk to the women themselves-to find out about their views, to find out what they think that is wrong institutionally for such incidents to be occurring day and again every day, to find out what changes they wish to see in the society or have anything they like or dislike about the current proceedings in the society.
This entry of my blog is a synopsis of my conversations with them.
While all of the interviews given to me were by women from India, one friend of mine, Nahed from Saudi, spoke about the need for equality for women in their country and said to have set goals in her life for bringing about a change to the situation in her nation and dreams to see women equal participants in all aspects of life, be it from education to politics.
The Indian friends of mine on the other hand spoke about problems that are still been prevailing in the country since decades ,even though forcefully banned by enforcement of various laws for protection of women , for example the dowry system regarding which Prateeksha from Kerala narrated on how she always wonders about the impact education has-on minds of people when she hears her well educated friends conversing about the amount of dowry they would expect once they decide to get married and also told me about complaints made by her female friends to her about the issues pertaining to dowry during their marriage. She urged for an end to the issue and questioned the ability of law for complete eradication of social evils like the dowry system. Well there certainly has to be an end to all social evils in the society and mere 'law' alone cannot solve the worries of women, the change should start from the minds and mindset of educated people themselves and should be carried upon to everyone else in the country. Added to these comments were lines from Indu from Hyderabad, who insisted that women should come to support of every other women in this world and proposed that every mother in the society should educate their children to respect all women and urge them to avoid dowry and refrain from being involved in other anti social crimes against women and creating problems in the society.
While I was questioning how mere making laws are ineffective in bringing a permanent change to the problems in lives of women- without change in the state of minds of people, Sowmya from Visakhapatnam urged for a government run rehabilitation home or a support home for women who are subjected to domestic violence. As most of the women in India are dependent on their married partner’s income, they have no choice but to face the violence at home, hence if there exists a support that is guaranteed by government, then there lies a confidence in women to either fight back or willingly and safely leave home for peace to these rehabilitation homes. Every woman all over India and world should be made aware of their rights and laws which they can exercise when required and education is an important tool for spreading awareness about laws and rights, and another friend of mine told me about the important role education plays in instilling confidence in women and make them stronger and independent, and also strongly recommended quality and compulsory education for every girl child in India.
Well due to various reasons and time constraints, I got to interview only a few women but they pretty much covered all the crucial-important needs and aspects of the society.
1) Better, improved & more supportive laws , 2) education for all women , 3)unity amongst one and all and above all,4)change in attitude & mindset of people are the solutions for all problems all over the world - one has to realize all human beings are equal and that each & everyone of them deserves as much from life as the other one gets.
References: 1) //Wikipedia: International Women's Day (IWD), originally calledInternational Working Women’s Day, and is marked on March 8th every year. Nowadays this is a major day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. //

Flag hoisting : panacea?

The Indian national flag which represents courage, sacrifice, peace, truth, faith and chivalry is the symbol of pride for every citizen of India. There will surface a sense of patriotic feeling by just looking at the flag and an immense amount of joy, when the symbol of pride is held firm in your palms. The entire struggle and courage of our freedom fighters is recognized every time the flag is hoisted.

Being an Indian, The constitution guarantees rights to every Individual to freely roam around to any corner of the country and equal rights to hoist a flag on the nation’s important days like the Republic day or Independence Day Etc.

The hoisting of a flag in our nation’s land is indeed a pride and representation of patriotism.
The hoisting of the flag when-India achieved Independence, on 15^th August 1947, was a mark of achievement and end of struggle. The Indian flag hoisted on the highest mountain peak of the world, Mount Everest on 29th May 1953, this is mark of an achievement of mountaineers. . . . Many similar occasions make us all bounce in joy and pride.

Now,

The BJP, a national political party and a majority-opposition of the house of representatives of India, wants to hoist the national tricolor flag in order to show the country’s presence in the constant curfew hit state and prove something to the nation.

Now I call this an utter-baseless, meaningless and senseless act-based on the timing of the act.

It is not wrong in deciding to hoist the flag to mark a great day but creating a controversy over it-isn’t nice enough. Running around media-shouting slogans- calling for hunger strikes? - bandhs? - creating hype-to hoist a flag in a state that has witnessed nothing other than riots and curfews over a long period of time is surely not chauvinism but a display of political strategy.

At the time when the country is in chaos, stuck deep in to the issues over insurgencies and separatist movements in the state of Jammu Kashmir, The growing Tribal problems and consequent rise in Maoist movements, price rises and scams in various departments across the country . . . .
The duty, of a politician or a leader is not marked “complete”, by hoisting of a flag, but, is to keep an effort in marching towards solutions towards these problems.

In similar lines of problems of India, the parliament is being put off, over the 2G Scam row, since a condemnable duration to disrupt the progress of the nation and there have been a lot of issues going around India simultaneously, like the ever growing rate of Inflation. Now, I really don’t understand the motto behind hoisting a flag right up in the northern state of the country at this point of a time.

“Hoisting” a flag or “not hosting” doesn’t solve even one of the problems that are persisting in the nation. In fact this may lead to aggravate the situation. Well, does this come under sedition? ‘’Potential threat to peace’’? Or violation of Flag code of India – which says the flag, may not be used for purpose of Business, Trade or Profession. I may have sounded like the colonial era government for once.

It should be clearly understood that-diverting public attention from the ongoing problems using situations like these, doesn’t solve the problems of the common man. In fact it is the tax money of the common man which is being spent on such notorious acts.

If any politician wanted to prove his love for the nation, I would urge him/her to concentrate on working through the problems, rather than creating new ones.

The CommonMan

In Today’s India,

The society's population is divided into few categories. The poor-The rich and The middle class. India is the largest holder of the later. He is often combined with the poor and known around as “the common man”. A very high frequent word from a politician’s lexicon.

So the poor-common man does his work or at least tries to do his best to earn his daily bread. He screens his surroundings, weighs the ups and lows in society around him, springs up a random discussion about the commonly corrupt politician with a co common man and satiates himself by reassuring himself that this is India and goes on with whatever is happening.

The common man- once in a while comes in contact with the Constitution of India.i.e. Once in 5 years (If I am being an optimist ), the feeling of being an Indian Citizen revives , the patriot reincarnates- either under influence of quack politicians soothing speeches or the endless packages these ones offer to the common man. Well, be it whatever, they vote! They exercise their right to participate in the seemingly- free & so called- fare elections---The universal adult franchise---This is a big occasion for the poor who get their daily wage for voting and for the middle class personnel, most of whom try their luck by voting –one more time- for a hope to see a working politician or to their favorite.

Now, this is the only time when the people and the politicians actually come into direct contact in a big way. The people expect something nice from these politicians and the politicians expect them to be voted for.

Now when I see around on what’s happening in our country, at this moment, it doesn’t make me, a common man, feel nice at all, in fact it makes me feel worried like every other citizen of our country.

a) There is Food inflation of 18%, a record high and sending the common man into nightmares for surviving

b) Added to this the interest rates in the bank loans go high and

c) The fuel rates take a step change every now and then on a frequent periodic basis.

d) The money we pay through taxes gets looted-in a mammoth-comes into light through a constitutional body-a government minister comes out and rules out the scam saying there is nothing of that sort ever existed. Now for this high drama to even actually be played, the public has to be considered fools, but in turn they have become ones

And many more . . . .

But, instead of serving and trying to reduce the woes of the never agitated-never frustrated-never vote denying common man, the politicians play around

a) The government and opposition leaders sit in front of the cameras and abuse each other-call each other corrupt. Their measure of being good is- being low on corrupt scale, which is a bad thing for the nation as a whole.

b) Down south, two power greed –highly rich-so called leaders, (in fact two of the many in the country) go on hunger strikes – call for disruption of social lives and so on.

c) The reporters who seemed gentle turned to be wolves in sheep’s clothing- and wanted to power head in the decisions-supposedly to be driven by people in a democratic country ,but instead , tried to make them driven by money makers of the society

Politicians disrupt the social life. They call for bandhs & protests. They stop trains and buses, or even break them down often and many more . . .

Now I call this – a turmoil.

The truth is,

The common man doesn’t care for what you 'politicians' think of the opposition or the governing official. We want work from you-and that’s why we voted for you. In a hope that you will work.

The common man shouldn’t suffer due to your egos and crave for power and blame games.

The common man shouldn’t go hungry for not being able to afford food because you didn’t do your duty for which you were voted to power.

The common man shouldn’t suffer tension due to frequent disruptions of social life because of your unwanted protests and hypes on the roads.

At the end of the day, what a common man asks for is just 2 meals per day and a peaceful sleep at the end of the night and a good society where they are offered all the basic human rights for a proper living.

I am no economist or an expert to produce suggestions for the price reductions or improving economic conditions. But I am aware enough to point out that ---- When there is money in the country-for allowing 1.78 lakh crores to be looted – then there is definitely money available – to make common man’s common commodities available at an affordable price. It just takes the intentions to work on the problems to do so.

The oppressed state is a very temporary state -the transition will only be to a revolution - and never happens with a warning or a transitory intermediate stage in between these two. So before the common man turns himself into a spear against the corrupt- you shall amend and make lives of a common man-back to normal.

So Before it gets too late . . . set your act right & Give the common man his Bread!