Real issues are not seen

In the competitive spirit of the elections the real issues facing India are ignored. Development issues, taxes, land acquisition policies, subsidies for private firms are not spoken of; rampant corruption is forgotten; inflation and price rise are not explained; insecurity of Indian women in public spaces is never remembered. Many part of India suffer because there is no piped water and no electricity. Farming suffers, industries are not growing fast and we are not doing well. All that is spoken by aspiring politicians is personalized attacks: why did BJP contestant had never mentioned that he had been married long ago? Why did the son-in-law  of their opponent acquire prime property at nominal rates? These trivial issues occupy prime spaces in  election speeches! Politics has become a dirty fight. Our country is a developing nation and we need not waste our time and resources in trivial matters. The money spent on the big political fights could be used for development. Where did the political parties amass such wealth? Election commission cannot enforce clean politics.What can the government of this vast nation ensure for its citizens?We are a democracy, are we a good democracy worthy of it? When differences among the people is so great.....poor being so so poor and the rich being so so rich can our democracy have any meaning?  This exercise of election is to fool the people that they have the power to change the state of the nation We can change the ruling party, but we cannot change the nature of dirty politics in India.We must think on this, and effectively use our power to vote...... 

Migrating Indians

Five generations ago, several Indians had left India for African countries in search of livelihoods. The British India gave them "Indian Empire" passports and made sea route easily available to Indians. Many migrated from states like Gujarat to Uganda, to South Africa, to Tanzania and Kenya(in late 1800s,early 1900s) Some went as business men, some as masons, some as carpenters. They took their wives with them. and they kept their social group well-knit, close and secure. Then generations of Indians had grow up with their culture intact living far away from India in far away Africa. Of course their professions in following generations had changed. The second generation of Indians in Africa became teachers, accountants, lawyers, architects shop owners and farm-owners. The government there, then gave them British citizenship and allowed them to move to Great Britain.By this chances for better professions by getting better education for their children had increased. Indians felt that their children should have better lives than themselves, and that can be guaranteed by better education. And they hard worked on giving their children better and better start. By keeping their culture alive and by only marrying among their own cultural community, they could make sure they had survived in any new land. So given a chance, we Indians not just survive, but prosper. We have the basics for prosperity.... strong family bonds and belief that life could be better only by better education.Another batch of Indians went from Vellore, a town in Tamil Nadu. They went as workers in sugarcane fields of the British, but soon became their owners of fields. They were given only the slope of a hill to make their homes in. But they made beautiful homes and made temples(converted small chapels) Now the present generation are all lawyers and doctors. They only know some spoken Tamil and do not have passports of their great great grand fathers to prove their Indian origin. But decedents of Gujarati people have all documents that were needed to show their origin.Many had migrated to Kampuchea and other far-east countries; they had merged with the local culture and cannot now prove their Indian origin.
Even now we have many persons of Indian origin showing the photocopies of the passports of their ancestors(five generations ago) to claim their rights as overseas Indian citizens. All get their PIO cards(Person of Indian Origin) and thereby rights to visit their "homeland". Although Indians are migrating fast to foreign lands, those who are settled in foreign lands want rights to revisit their homelands.Wherever we live, in our hearts we are Indians, for the sake of livelihood, we had to leave our motherland.  

Elections Elections Elections

Can elections bring change for India? All that political leaders want is win, a win for themselves oly. They do not care for the state of the country. All during electioneering, more time was spent on criticizing each other or calling names. Less was spoken about progress of the country or how to achieve it. Can people hope that the political elite can bring change to their lives? Economic conditions being so bad, can there be a single solution for a country as vast and as diverse like India? The educated elite just want to save themselves by leaving India and by seeking  opportunities outside India. And they may be able to save themselves and secure their own future.
Future of India is nobody's concern. Solutions are there for better future for India. We need to industrialize fast without alienating the people of India. We need to secure livelihoods for the people by equipping them.Giving jobs and giving them social security. They need health schemes, good educational institutions and give access for all to these institutions. At the present age, this is possible.Provided that the nation acts as a whole, and we have a stable clean government. When will we have that? ........I am thinking.....can we have that?..........wait till election results come....

Ban on mining is lifted

Economic slowdown is caused as ban was imposed on mining. Illegally land was being stripped of the minerals and exported. Wanton destruction of India's natural resources has led to ecological disasters.From When the ban was imposed, iron ore exports fell 68%and the mining sector became very small.Mining and minerals regulation Act has been slow in letting private companies by competitive bidding(e-bidding) as there has been no transparency in carrying out the policies. Ever since the coal scams were publicized, the delay was due to ensuing policy paralysis. Now the Supreme Court has limited the extraction of or to 20 million tonnes per year. The supreme Court has also cancelled mining leases which were extended up to 2007 for those for whom 20 year renewal periods was over. Now also, there are loop holes and indiscriminate mining can take place. When government cannot participate in the development of mining sector effectively, it leaves it up to the private companies. And private companies find a way to mint money which government cannot stop, control or limit.So that is fate of India...indiscriminate mining...loss of our national resources, people's ignorance is taken advantage of by power seekers and capitalists. With the cacophony created by electioneering, this significant lift on ban is being ignored by the media....this is not good....

Culture is the heartbeat of Indians

Even after five generations of living in foreign lands, Indians stick together holding on to their culture and way of life. And they want to re-connect with India, we offer them an identity by giving them the status of "Person of Indian origin" We give them a passport to visit India whenever they want.  Even Indians who have surrendered their Indian citizenships and become citizen of another country, we recognize them as "overseas Citizen of India" and we allow them to invest in India, and we let them buy land in India as they are the non-resident Indians.
Farther people migrate from India, greater is their desire to connect with India. Indian culture holds them spellbound and mersmerized. The magnetic pull of the motherland is too great to resist. However settled they are in their new lands, they wish to visit the land from which their great great grandfathers came. They visit the temples and monuments and soak in the culture here. They like Indian music, they like Indian cuisine. They appreciate the festivals and the fairs. Even if one is not Indian genealogically speaking(not having genetic links) one can learn to be an Indian at heart.You can learn Indian value system. Roots are cultural and run very deep as they shape the individual's psyche.
The world is big and Indians have spreaded to far off lands; but thanks to Internet, we can quench the thirst for Indian culture by listening to Indian music, and learn Indian recipes. To experience the real India, one must come here. Its a fine place to visit but staying here would not be a good idea. There are too many problems here which the political elite is not resolving.
We can keep our culture alive by teaching our children fine values which Vivekananda had taught, by reading the Bhagavad Gita, by reading  Rabindranath Tagore and by reading Indian history. The fine values of Indian people behold came from thousands of years of cultural evolution. They are so strong that the Indian culture will thrive for centuries to come. Cultural roots are indeed deep and pull us to this land of our origin. Those who want to visit the country of their origin are most welcome here. Come and feel at home.

Election Fever

Election fever means frantic attempts to win elections. Candidates try the "tactic" of trying to find fault with the opposite team. They try to wedge the newly formed front. More and more news channels try to make predictions thinking that such predictions can change the minds of the voters. Since "Ambedkars Jayanti" was here, all try to make capital out of this occasion. They try to portray themselves as the only persons trying to save egalitarianism in India. Proposal of curing all evils in India is not going to work. Secularism is elusive. Promises are always make and none are ever kept. This is bad. Thats why things don't work here. We do not have proper drinking water, we are inefficient in giving electricity to all. Schools are not good enough and health care is poor. We are lacking in so many many  ways. No political party takes any effort to change that. Its very sad.
Now family feuds take the shape of politicking. Children of one brother against the child of another brother who is in the opposite party. New kinds of mudslinging goes on. Most battles are fought on live TV while each of the news channels try to air the latested abuses in the fastest way possible. It is non stop cacophony.
Movie stars also try to support one or the other parties and jump in into the battleground. although the Election Commission's issues strict notices, it does not stop one from hurdling abuses against another. Oh, when will all this end? When the elections are over.

Its election time again

There are myriad problems in India...economic downturn, poverty, lack of proper hospitals, outdated school system, lack of commitment by politicians, inefficient bureaucracy....its an endless list. But there are positive signs that we will overcome these problems and one of them is elections. Elections for the Lok Sabha(lower house of the Parliament) has been announced. We get to choose every five years, a political party which we want. There is the Congress party, then there is Bharatiya Janata party and there is the third front. Now there is the common man party too. Yesterday there were clashes between party supporters but this rarely happens. Every one exercises there likes and dislikes by their votes and not their hostile behaviour. Officially the election dates have been announced (April first week) At the last minute, the contesters try to win hearts by laying foundation stones in for dairy projects, for industrial corridors or for factories. They try to quotes these as their achievements in the election speeches which would follow. TV and newspapers carry lots of advertisements. Few TV channels try to predict victory, but this is futile. People show their own choices without and nobody can predict that. And we are empowered by our right to choose our leaders. Once chosen, we will closely monitor their activities, as media is ever vigilant. With Indian economy in rough times, it is very import that we make the right choice.