Punishment for killing in riots

Today a landmark judgement was given by the supreme court. Punishment of life in imprisonment for the politician who had killed many during riots which had rocked the state of Gujarat ten years ago. Another was given 28 years in jail. Several were given 14 years in jail. 32 persons were given jail sentences and taken to jail when the judgement was given. Those people who had lost their lives had not lost the torture in vain. Our courts have brought justice to the people, however delayed it may be. This will be a deterrent to others. And human life is precious even the life of a commoner. Politicians may not take it for granted that they can do what ever they want. Even the police force which had watched the murders have to answer. The biggest problem was that there is politicisation of the police. They have to take orders from the politicians; and if they fail, they would get transferred or get demoted.(That will be dealt with later). The riots were between two religions-- Hindu and Muslim. In a secular state like India, this kind of riots should not tale place.Communal feeling among the police force had affected their efficiency in controlling such a riot.

Poverty exhibited in a show case

There are commercials(on TV and cinema halls) which show rural Gujarati women milking cows in their homesteads and sending the milk to big milk dairies; the commercial shows how happy the rural women feel when they had contributed to provide pure milk to rich urban children. This is meant to promote the milk chain. What did their own rural children get? They did not get the pure milk that rich urban kids got. This is showcasing poverty. There is nothing to smile about this. This is a very popular commercial which has been telecast for more than 26 years. How is it that we are not sensitive to this?We enjoy show casing poverty,this indicates very poor taste.It is highly deplorable.
Recently, when asked why the Gujarati women are thin, a minster had replied that they are thin because they are beauty conscious; he had also said that women tell their daughters to drink milk and their daughter do not drink milk because they are very figure conscious. Do they have any milk in their home to provide for their daughters? For three decades, milk has brought success to the state. What has it done to its people? For three decades, milk has been brought from poor rural homes, not from big dairy farms. There are no milking machines, no big dairy farms as there are in advanced countries. Dairy industry procures its milk from the poor people and provide milk to the rich in the cities. Why have they not been modernized even after the three decades of prosperity that white revolution has brought to the state. Malnutrition among children is abundant here as milk is.The state of Gujarat boasts of high growth rate for industries. It has also ranks high in poor health of its children. The truth is that when there is tremendous industrial development, it is at the cost of the health of its people.
For a state to progress its people's health is an important index. With its people being poor and working in poor conditions, progress and development is meaningless. We are creating an inferior type of human beings…those who work with minimum intake of food; exploitation is taken to maximum--scaling the  limits of endurance. Epigenetic repercussions of such a human race of people would not be marked with a high rank during the future times to come...unless care is taken now.

Let us proceed forward

Dark and gloomy days are ahead of us.After more than a week of talking over the issue of allocation of coal blocks, parties of the Parliament are arguing over and over again.The time we are wasting could be utilized in attending more urgent issues like "Land acquisition" There is no way to save one's own ship, but still one Minister says that if the coal has not been mined, it remains buried in Mother Earth, and that there is no loss. The fact is mining rights have been given to 142 companies from 2005 to 2008 without any regulations; and now one cannot talk his way out of this mess. The members in the opposite side are sure that non-transparent allocation means bribes have been taken.It is customary that the corporate sector companies plot together to get things done by government by giving extra loads of cash for the benefit their own interests. Only now, we have a policy of stating that "natural resources" should be auctioned in a transparent manner; previously we did allocate transparently but we had not stated the policy. Eight years ago when coal allocations were to be made, it was proposed that we should have e-auction, but it was not done.Let us admit it and get over it. Allocations were not done correctly. Let us reallocate transparently. Lets us proceed without going on lamenting.Different states had responded differently on allocation issues; and something had to be done very fast , so that we can show a high production of coal which are need in making electricity. And all other factories need electricity to run. Of the allocated mines, only a few were mining coal within two years of allocation. Others could not cross the  hurdles--clearances from environment ministry, tribal welfare ministry and tangles of land acquisition. Even after this first hurdle, they needed road transport, and proximity to railways--sixty miles from railway line would too far to transport coal by tons.Even if government had allocated, to keep coal flowing for the generation of power is a Herculean task. So let us stop commenting, and start working on the next issue.

What is the reason for the mess?

Divided in different departments, important programs cannot be implemented effectively. Health department has to associate with drinking water and sanitation department. Health department has to interact with laws in drug testing(department of justice) on hazards faced by people. Constantly food ministry has to move with health ministry. For example we have to bring in organic farming and discontinue use of pesticides and fertilisers; health of people consuming food grown with pesticides (like DDT) suffers. Encouraging the plantation of brown rice which is beneficial to the diabetics in Inda--this is an advice health ministry can give to the food ministry for future farming plans. It is with these communications with one another that real progress can take place in India. Emails are an effective way of communication among the various departments of the government. Compartmentalisation has led to ineffective governance. The critical health problems are due to poor housing facilities (poor quality of water and ineffective waste management). But housing and urban development ministry is not associated with health ministry. And how can we allocate for specific development when the concerned department is a different one? Inter ministerial consultations are just a formality and are not effectual in the making or in the implementation of policies.  Even the ‘coal-scam’ which is the highly debated issue today is a result of these inadequacies:- The Power Ministry needed coal  to make more electricity( demand is so high) And coal could not be provided by a single company; diversification was proposed; environmental clearances were rushed(‘go zones’ and ‘no go zones’ were redefined) by Environment  Ministry, and the Coal Ministry did allocate blocks very very fast. All this caused big delays.Now none of the department take responsibility for delays, and they continue playing 'the blame game' They blame each other for all the irregularities in coal block allocations.
Conflict in the state of Assam is a result lack of cooperation among Ministries—Our Foreign department had not taken the issue of immigrant problem seriously enough. The department for Tribal welfare had not made land records properly for the native tribal population of the state. Ration cards were issued without proper birth certificates, only those with Indian nationality can be issued PDS cards, that was department of public distribution. Now,the real natives are refugees in their own homelands. In the end the government gets a bad name (beyond national shame) the people go on suffering for longer time. Development and progress should be visualized as integrated growth affecting all the various spheres--not limited to a specific department.Dispite having immense natural resources and access to technology, we have failed to bring industrilization and development in India.

Giant Leap for Mankind

The bad news is that Neil Armstrong has left us for the stars; it is very sad. He will be the brightest star in the sky. He was the most loved astronaut and a role model for children of all ages. He had started an era of exploration. But even now there are no colonies in space; nor are any plans for them. There no more manned explorations. Sending satellites and assessing Earth’s climate, mapping geographical boundaries, and global positioning remain our primary goals. Ever since man landed on the moon, there have been giant leaps in progress of technology. But for the common human being, nothing has happened. We are still battling for basic needs. Why? We have the technology to run the government well (E governance initiatives) But we have a government which wants its own way of doing things. We are a good people, with bad persons ruling us. We are tired of the same old routine of why we cannot be a successful nation—mediocrity in governance.  Same story is repeated in several countries, now. We are stuck in this world. Why can’t we leave the world and start new journeys?  May be we will discover new planets with new mineral resources. And then there will be more fights on who will get it; the wealthy persons will reach it first. And then it would be allocation quarrels all over again.  The leap we require should be in making better associations of man with man. We have conquered machines, but for what? To argue more and fight more,claiming "this is mine", "that is mine" and allocation issues will arise again. We have hold all mineral ressources as belonging to all, we are just care takers. We need to take a leap in "cooperation and in sharing" so that the human race can further progress.

What is going on?

This is not monarchy where we accept the King’s decisions. Government has to prove itself worthy of the status accorded to it. We will be constantly monitoring its decisions; if they are correct or wrong will be scanned by the people. We can change the government by voting and by communicating with one another. But we do not throw tantrums, or constantly protest. With the condition of the economy becoming from bad to worse, we are concerned about what is going on in the government. What are the mistakes that government has made (in the decisions it had made) which has resulted in the bad economic condition? Who made the decisions in the allocation of coal blocks, who decided on the mode of allocation of “spectrum”, which department is legitimising land acquisitions, who is allowing forest lands to become mines? All need to be investigated. Just because the government is giving freebies—food security, MGREGA, free medicine, we cannot forget other activities. Lollipops can fool children only, not us. Why is India not ranked as a developed nation? Why are we so poor despite India being rich in minerals, having vast forests and fertile farmlands? Whose wealth is the government squandering? It is ours. We will be asking questions.

There are efforts to curb our freedom of speech. Indian government had asked this year to block 358 websites.This was an unusual request.No other country had requested such a large number of blockages.As it is government is squandering the national resources by paying big salaries to various departments in its bureaucracy, now it is creating a bigger bureaucracy( bigger expenditures)for policing the net. Even if bad speech(with hatred) is communicated, it won't be heard. Only those which are reasonable,sensitive and better expressed will be read and heard. Rumours may travel fast, but they also dry up fast like shallow lakes. There is no need to block websites to stop rumours from spreading.310 sites were blocked when Assam situation had resulted in mass migrations. But you cannot go on policing the vast net.There are 16 million twitter accounts in India. How to block and what to block? To stop rumours, we have to disseminate more in depth knowledge. We cannot resort to "ostrich" like attitude and bury our heads in the sand.The truth is that government is trying to control the net as it does not want the irregularities in government to be known. The press spreads all the news about the government--how will that be controlled. The net has come into being and has given the whole world the freedom to express. Thank you, for sharing the net with us.

Equality through inequality-rise of mediocre organizations

A raging topic in the Indian Parliament right now is whether we should give promotions to those employees who are from the "reserved" category. We are trying to bring equality of statuses by practising a policy of inequality(reservation of jobs on basis of caste).Affirmative action(reservation policy)can be detrimental to the progress of the nation. Let us examine whether we should have category for reserved caste communities(which we have).
We are still a developing country, and by keeping mediocre persons in jobs/posts/positions which involve "decision making", we are making our institutions more mediocre. We need excellent minds in important positions, so that we can develop fast. In places like the US which is a developed nation, they can afford to keep a reserved category (who have been historically denied opportunities) But in India, we are weakening our organizations which hire 'reserved category' personnel who are inferior in their ability to perform well.While studying in college they got admission with less than average marks; they got admission because thy are born in the caste which was considered "low". To give them a chance do do well, we have this policy in colleges. But they do not get good marks in college too. In applying for jobs, they get in because they are "reserved for low castes. This is clouds our meritocracy and gives rise to mediocrity in organizations.We cannot refine our institutions, if we have "reserved" category which would use up our national resources without contributing to our national growth.Our development is delayed now and that is a big setback.We will have a drag which will not allow us to grow out of "developing" country status. We would fall back in the race for development among aspiring nations of the world. 
There are debates in the Parliament whether the 'reserved category' in government organizations will get promotions in their jobs or not. Since many politicians need the votes from the established vote banks from the respective caste categories(SC,ST and OBCs) they are in favor of the promotions. The adverse effect of the "reservation policy" has to be realized for the real growth of future India.

Everybody is a critique

All the confusion created by coal block allocation has made environment for new parties to constantly criticize the old ones. It is felt by civil society activists that by using the “exposure” of corrupt politicians, they can wield an independent party trying to bring about a “big” revolution. But each party must have its positive points which it can show to the voters; they cannot just build themselves  up by tearing others down. The rise of new parties which appear to be civil society activists does not hold much ground. They are not a re-incarnation of ‘Vishnu’ as they project themselves to be. They they want a civil war  and they want to deliver us from evils.We do not accept them as an incarnation of God, the Indian élite are not foolish enough to believe in them. Change is needed but not drastic change overthrowing the democracy we have worked so hard to build. Over last 65 years in India, we have seen many ups and down, and the government goes on. Agreed, we have much inequality in India and lots of allied problems.We have government bringing about plans for development, plans for inclusion and plans for growth. We are trying to do it better.People cannot waste time and resources by creating “neo-revolutions” neither by showing the inequalities nor by pointing at the corrupt government. What is corrupt and what is not will be decided by our self -regulatory mechanisms like CAG, Supreme Court and other investigating committees. One need not to comment incessently on the working of the government and take advantage of the present situation. If one wants to start a party, one must spell out ones intent and one's aspirations--and not relay on other's weaknesses.

Leader participated in riots

We had never thought that the MLA (Minister of Legislative Assembly) of the district had himself taken a gun and had shot at people and participated in the rioting. But he had. Our representative himself is killing us. Our represtative democracy has vanished with the shower of bullets.
 What makes the people in power think like this? May be violence comes from their hearts. Logic does not work on people who are unreasonable. Getting rid of people by shooting down innocents seemed normal to him? If the representatives themselves are like this, whom will the people go to seek justice. Now law will take its course, arrests will follow. This is the height of hatred. So new heights are being scaled?

Fears of North Eastern Indians

Violence is the state of Assam had subsided but new cyber terror has begun.By social networks,terror is being communicated widely. Few unidentified persons had created profiles in Internet social network sites and had sent morphed  pictures of  terror hit people.The pictures were not from the state of Assam, but were just false images generated by these unidentified persons.After seeing these pictures, all those who had families in the North Eastern states had started taking trains to their hometowns. In addition to this, messages  were sent by mobile phones that there will be more terror strikes.More and more people started flowing back to their hometowns in the North East.It was never thought that the cyber terror would move people to this extremes.All persons from North Eastern India residing in the mainland India in states of Maharashtra,Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and so on are leaving in a mass exodus.Governments of these states assure the people that they need fear. People are basically panic stricken. The shadow of terror keeps growing bigger as more and more people were being targeted.Government took steps and had banned mass messaging services. As many as 245 web were blocked by the government. There is no need to fear from  pictures which are being created by cyber terrorists. People should be aware that these are fake messages and that morphed pictures are not genuine.The people of North Easter India must have confidence in themselves and should not fear at any pretext. Government can stop any terror like situation and they must have faith in this.Blocking anything is not going help if the concerned people are fear-stricken themselves. In social networking sights, there is tendency to forward anything that comes along.Nobody thinks before forwarding.Technology can be fun if one knows 'what not to do' with it.More than ever the need for communications is felt,but one should know what to communicate. Technology should not be misused.To stop people moving back to their home states in the North Eastern India, government may stop the trains which go there. This cannot work, when people wish to return they will travel by air.How can that be stopped?People themselves have to be brave.People keep peace in your minds and hearts.

India's abundant mineral wealth

Our India is richly endowed with arable land and  finest minerals.India has all natural resources and minerals in abundance in its soil. Indian government highly inefficient for it is not able to manage and allocate minerals.The immense importance in allocation of its resources to sustained development is not realized by the government.At this present state of technology available to us (e-bidding, e-tendering and so on)  we have transparent methods in allocation of natural resources. But the policy on this was made only now after the exposure of the 2G scam(allocation of spectrum) The allocation of coal blocks was done prior to the making of the policy(allocation of natural resources). Retrospectively  applying the policy is going to make all past government's actions into semi scams,The MM(D&R) Act came about in September 2010, till then competitive bidding was not often practiced. The prevalent procedures were followed. As per state auditor(CAG),Indian tax payers have lost 3.8 lakh crore in scams in power, aviation and coal sectors.CAG has charged the government with allotting coal fields and land for power infrastructures at a fraction of the price it should have been. This has given private companies huge benefits and natural resources of the country has been lost.At the cost of its people's well being, mineral wealth has been lost. With the power given to it, the government has responsibility towards its people, why did it give away coal blocks at cheap price ?  57 coal mines were given without any sort of auction between 2005 and 2009. Government had given the last date of June 28,2004 for competitive bidding, but it went on allocating blocks till 2009;there would have been more gain for government if the bidding went on all at once.The prevalent circumstances had made delays as approvals and counter approvals were needed from different parts of the bureaucracy. Different ministries were involved,forest area had to be opened up for mining activity(environment ministry had to give approval), power ministry was making phenomenal demands and consultations from all took time.There was also post bid concession which was given to favorite companies. There is constant effort by the government to do favors for corporate sector, but at the cost of whom? The people, their national wealth, their development and their progress. There was need at that point to create additional capacity;only then power could be generated quickly because there was a big, ever increasing demand.The government is actually working against its people, because there was a huge loss of potential revenue. But allocation of natural resources was not thought of as a revenue generating process, but all decisions cause loss of public money and national resources; and costs will have to be calculated.Why should the people tolerate this?We have really no choice.Farther up the bureaucracy we see, lesser is the commitment to the real development of India.

Its Independence Day today

Inspirational speech by our first Prime Minister(on India's tryst with destiny) sixty five years ago is replayed again in efforts to revive the feeling of fresh start--- the birth of the Indian nation. Since 1947, Indian people have made great strides and have progressed as a whole. The positive developments are many many and cannot all be enumerated here.There are a few dissatisfied persons who would find faults. More speeches have been given which are full of excuses for not governing India well.We are concerned about the positive future of India. Indian youth will be asking for more jobs, so industries will be made.And urbanization will take place around industries.Indians value education as the greatest wealth that one can have. They have a passion to attain knowledge. We would apply this knowledge and plan for the growth of India. Indian scientists all over the world will make new discoveries which will benefit all. Indian professionals will also receive fame for their devotion to their work.

Indian businessmen and entrepreneurs will trade all over the world and bring big economic benefits to India.  Indian government with increased computerization, will be better able to govern the country. We are moving towards a golden period.We are not aiming to become a super power, but we will not be pushed around.Our strength is derived from our confidence in ourselves.

Indian communities living world wide will be celebrating Indian festivals.Wherever they live, they will read about India's freedom struggle; they will listen to our patriotic songs; and they will always be searching for their native place in goggle's maps of India.

Media is trying to create leader

Democracy reigns supreme in India—anyone can raise one’s voice against the government and its policies. It is unbelievable that a yoga guru is leading a mass of 5000 followers and ordering them to remove the corrupt government which was hoarding black money. Last year, the same yoga guru had led a group of people to fast as a means of protest against the faulty government. The protest was stopped by the police who had “lathi” charged against the sleeping protests in the middle of the night. The media had shown it immediately to all people. The erring politicians took measures against the police who were merely following orders of the politicians. This time, the police were wary; they had arrested the leader for a little while who wanted to march into the parliament(which is in session now). But policed had immediately released him at an empty football stadium.Police had remembered last year’s events and made plans cautiously. The protesters had refused to board the buses to take them to football stadium which can accommodate them. But when rain came down pouring, they had to board the buses. Police had taken him to the football stadium where yoga guru was allowed to “fast” and “protest” along with his followers. Live TV and 24*7 media coverage have given protests big boosts. It was a day long  game of “lets fool the cops”plan and it got live TV coverage. It did not prove anything nor did it accomplish anything. People exercised their right to protest that’s all. We, in India, have a vacuum—no leader. Anyone jumps into the limelight and claims to have a cause. The masses are suffering without proper food, while surplus grains are rotting without proper storage space. Demands of electricity are immense and power companies are having a difficult time providing the metro cities with electricity. Drought situation is grim as water tables are drying up.Too much water is drawn from them and there is no way to replenish them. This is no time for playing games with cops and politicians by protesting like this. Addressing immediate needs of the nation is most important at this hour of adversities. Who is doing that?no one. Too much media attention is being given to trivial affairs.How can a yoga guru lead? At no place on Earth saints or gurus tried to change governments. Total chaos is what is being created,as no leader is found yet.

Holistic reforms needed

People of India have complete mistrust of the police forces. In 2006, our Supreme court had recommended holistic reforms in the police governance. But it has not been adhered to. Several reforms were urgently needed. Some are: The tenure of the chief officer should be fixed; the lower rank officers like the constable must be given incentives to work well.Promotions should be given to those who work hard. And bribes should not be taken for favours like promotions. Police should have more facilities, they should have good equipment. More resources should be  allocated to the police; police force must be increased in size(there are few policemen as per population).
We have big issues on trust. Respect for the power of the police is there but people just hate the police. How to"command respect"? Police have to become more sensitive, more responsive and become sensible. Police should interfere only when the society demands their presence and not otherwise.They should not create fear their very presence. How to protect the "poor person" should be the attitude as the poor are more vulnerable to injustices.Poor people feel, if a cop is around, he will pick one and beat him, and blame for some or other crime. There is "fear culture" created by the police. 
There is militaristic hierarchy within the police force.It is wrong to assume that with higher rank, the office would have more wisdom. Nor does age reflect superiority. Taking orders, and doing official work is militaristic and does not fulfil the daily duties of the police.All this reflects that the training of the police is most inadequate.
Why are police officers are never trusted? Torture in custody is common. Confession in a police station involves brutality and violence.But confession in front of magistrate would be a statement recorded in a proper court. So confession in police station has to go. Judiciary and the police must trust each other first, so that the justice process functions properly. When there is dysfunctional police, how can statements and reports given by police considered by courts? Courts need the reports given by the police.Delays in courts are often caused by delays by the police investigations.Both police and courts are ineffective and dysfunctional, and they cause the biggest problems for the Indian people. It is because people are themselves peaceful in nature that we have little need for the brute force of the police. People themselves have internalised social sanctions and need of external social control is very less.

Bond of love

Despite rising costs of living, despite calamities like flood and drought, despite power  failures, the Indian people find a time for rejuvenation and revive bonds of love. Culture and tradition give an occasion for joy so that people can free their mind of worries. Festival of Rakhi  which celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters was observed today. Rakhi brings together families. Women visit their brother's homes, tie a decorated handband affectionately and apply tikka(dot) with rice grains on the foreheads of their brothers and pray for long life for their brother. This is an unique festival when the bond between brother and sister are strengthened. This festival revives the spirit and the mind of the Indian people, and reunions of families take place. It is these religious festivities that make India unique and very beautiful. People are able to take stress and more stress as they wait for the same occasion next year when they will meet their sisters again.Indian people work hard with these joys deep inside their hearts. This is the real India.