The Indian Political Turf

The Indian Political Turf

Though I am not an ardent follower of the politics, just the way new events are unfolding every day; I am fascinated by its dubious distinctions. I am finding Indian political gossip more intriguing than any of the contemporary issues. As far as I know there has never been such an interest, hype and dramatization in this field as it is for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

 The reasons for such a heightened activity is due to the culmination of the growing restiveness/frustration among youth and the incompetency of the present government leading to premature death of Indian growth story. Current politics are marred by complete insensitiveness, absence of moral binding and lack of conviction among power-bearers towards nation. Youth especially are more frustrated with the continued and gross underperformance of our nation on a whole. No new jobs have been created in the manufacturing sector for the past four years and the industrial growth which has been slumping around 2% is sliding down further. It has been more than six decades of Independence and still majority of the people are languishing under poverty, unemployment and are still under mercy of the hierarchy for any change in their living standards.

On the other hand, political brazenness is evident from the constant mudslinging which has become the order of the day. The most juiciest and spicy gossip is provided by these political buffoons. Newspapers are abuzz with a new and a fresh controversy every day.  People have completely lost their faith on the entire political strata. With the rapid advancement in technology the accessibility to the social-networking sites has increased and thus communication has become so easy.  People have quick access to the latest events.  Though system hasn’t become transparent, nothing can be hidden from the public notice for a long time. They have become active watch-dogs. Thus the age old political tricks are now quickly unravelled by people and the intentions of the leaders are easily understood.  The usual habit of washing dirty linen in public is further providing all the needed information about all the politicians (ruling as well as opposition) to the curious and enthusiastic youth.

 Typically for major political gains, the current political ploy played by the gerontocrats and epigones is “secularism”.  Though the politicians are not tired of playing the same old communal card, people have lost interest in this age old election manifesto.  Again this showcases the vindictive attitude of the politicians to divide the nation on lines of religion. World is surging ahead into 21^st century and we are still entangling on these religious issues. At a juncture where a new cult of the young guns is aiming for a casteless society, issues related to religion can never galvanise and invigorate them. This streak of insanity in wooing the electorate on the basis of religion is taking a toll on both the internal and external security of the country. Yet again politicians are instigating the malicious elements by our constant communal pitching too.  For centuries together we have been talking about religion, at least now why don’t we discuss and worry about something sensible and relevant? For ages we have been eulogising about our glorious past. Why don’t these leaders spear head and make a sincere effort to restore the past glory and fame?   Unfortunately, the leaders are not bothered about taking pragmatic steps towards path of progress.

While we seem to compete with our nearest neighbour China, for International focus and attention; why don’t we learn lessons from their successful growth story?  The nation which had nearly 80% of population below poverty around 80’s now has become the second largest economy in the world. We are never interested in assimilating those lessons. Free India can hardly boast of a strong and able leader with a vision to direct India into a path of glory and success. Politics has become synonymous to outsmarting rivals. The Indian political history is marked by squabbling over petty issues. People are more desperate about solutions for their problems now. They are unwilling to drift away from the core issues which are boggling the nation and afflicting their lives too. Issues like poverty, unemployment, rampant urban migration, universal education, self-reliance in energy etc are badgering the country.

Youth has become restive and the newly emerging class of neo-middleclass are keen about growth and progress of their lives and the nation as a whole. People are really fed up of the inadvertent price rise, falling rupee, growing inflation, rampant corruption and lack of order in the society. The poll verdict of the forth coming elections might be pivotal in wake of all these issues. People are now desperate about a leader who can steer India into a new realm of prosperity and well-being.

 

 

 

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Facts/Myths About Cancer

Facts / Myths About Cancer

After the open revelation by the actress Angelina Jolie about her double mastectomy, suddenly there seem to be a new anxiety among people about the disease. Within days of receiving this news another business man in London, aged 53 and father of two has opted for prostate gland removal operation. Since the decision about mastectomy has been taken by a superstar, the gravity of the entire situation has taken a new turn. Thus, it leaves a big question-are these operations going to be more common? How should be problem be redressed?

Hence it would be of great significance to know the number of deaths caused by cancer. According to WHO reports it is the leading cause of deaths in the entire world accounting for 7.6 million deaths (nearly 13%of all deaths, 2008 reports) every year. Of them, lung, stomach, liver, colorectal, breast and cervical cancer account to majority of cancer deaths. Nearly 30% of cancers occur due to five behavioural habits- like high Body Mass Index, low intake of fruits and vegetables, lack of physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use. It is alarming to note that nearly 22% of all cancers and 70% of global lung cancers are caused by tobacco alone.

Coming back to the issue of the mastectomy, we first need to look at its significance, its need, affordability, reliability of the cancer tests and the surety (of cancer avoidance). There are so many aspects to be considered before arriving at the decision. The most important factor to be considered is the incidence of cancer among the first-degree members of the family, like sister or the mother, in case of breast cancer. This increases the risk of cancer by three fold in case of breast cancer. The gene BRCA 1 and 2 are the genes responsible for the malignant tumours. They produce DNA stabilising proteins and carry on housekeeping function in many tissues but are found in higher levels in breast tissue. When the genes undergo mutation, normal functioning of the proteins is affected. Thus, the cell become defective and leaves a scope for abnormal multiplication of cells resulting in cancers like ovarian and pancreatic cancer; testicular, prostate and a rare form of breast cancer in men. Though so much study has been carried on these genes, BRCA screening data failed to arrive at clear results. Genes are just crucial factor for testing the level of the risk but they alone are not the only means for occurrence of cancer. Only 5-10% of breast cancers are inherited. There are nearly 100 gene mutations for BRCA1 and 2 and the level of risk in case is not clearly known. Moreover, the incidence is often affected by the life style of the individual and the environmental factors as well.

Well, there are several less expensive methods can be followed to keep the risk at bay. Those include annual mammography after 40 years of age for women, physical examination of breasts; annual MRI scan can reveal minute details of the microscopic malignant tumours, use of anti-cancer drug tamoxifen may reduce the risk by 40% to 50%.

In countries like India, where the awareness about the disease itself is much less, gene testing is still in infancy. There are very few people who are ready to take the tests. Tests are often advised to the people who have genetic disposition for the disease. The psychological stress of the tests puts the patients in a very difficult situation. Genetic counselling helps to cope up with the stress to certain extent. But unfortunately, counselling sessions are very expensive and the personnel are not so well trained in India.

In case of Jolie, the gene mutation she carried has put her at risk of breast cancer at 87% and to ovarian cancer at 50%. After mastectomy, doctors predicted that her risk fell from 87% to 5%. Removal of breasts doesn’t seem to reduce the incidence of ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is considered to be deadlier and harder to detect. The prophylactic oophorectomy –removal of ovaries, surgery is less complex. Removal of ovaries drastically reduces the levels of estrogen, this can halt or slow the breast cancers as they need the hormone to grow. But this might fuel other forms of cancer.

Unlike Americans, Indians are not very aggressive in seeking prophylactic treatment. What needs to be understood is that every patient is different and what has been an individual decision (in case of Jolie) may not hold good for all the persons.

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New Frontiers In Biological Sciences

New Frontiers In Biological Sciences

Science has been the most happening field perpetually unfolding, unfurling, discovering new vistas and reaching new horizons incessantly. Biological sciences have out grown its boundaries. With its full fledged wings of knowledge and steering high in creativity, is extending its purview of research to new avenues.

Advances in biological sciences are now surpassing the latest developments of computing and surging ahead with new discoveries at an unimaginably faster rate. Life science is out performing and reinventing itself to bring in the best to the fore. As per Gordon Moore, (co-founder of Intel) growth in this field has been exponential, i.e explosive doubling. The tools of genetic engineering, needed for manipulation of life are costing precipitously less and rising in their quality. Even the time lag in various processes has drastically come down. Making it more viable as a business venture or for good resource for out-sourcing which can generate lot of employment for educated and trained youth. Thus cost to return ratio is quite high making it as a profitable enterprise on a large scale.

Biological sciences offer a greater provision for collaborating more actively with the computer algorithms and the results are astounding. New stream of sciences like the  Bio-informatics, Proteomics, Genomics are making much progress by offering greater insights into the cell, its functions. These latest fields of study are offshoots of an interplay between biology and computation. Gone are the days when people would imagine that working in a Biochemistry or Molecular Biology lab involves use of pipettes and sterile glass apparatus. It has progressed much beyond that. The new tribe of computational biologists are equally knowledgeable and sometimes much better equipped to solve the problems in biology. Progress made by these new advances in bioinformatics is spectacular. Consequently the speed with which genome sequences of several living organisms have been unraveled is breath-taking. More than 150 genome have been sequenced since 1995.

The major breakthrough in genome sequencing has been the most highly acclaimed sequencing of the human genome by Craig J Venter in 1998. It marked the beginning the events that followed  it is creating new ripples in this field. Genetic engineering in the formative stages was a very tedious process. Several steps had to be carefully executed to obtain a fragment of DNA with desired gene sequence. Now the genetic code can be very easily manipulated with a press of button. A piece of DNA can be cut and effortlessly imported from one species to another. It can be reused, re purposed and several bases can be swapped in and out with great precision. All these techniques have evolved, progressed and resulted in the genesis of new field of science “Synthetic Biology” or in short “Syn-Bio”. This field is now set to change the contours of the life sciences with its immense potentialities.

Double-stranded DNA

This draws me back to the incident of an aspiring young girl who after obtaining a doctorate degree in life sciences wanted to pursue her dream of working as post-doctoral fellow in a reputed American university under the guidance of a brilliant young scientist. She got a position in the lab she aspired. She quickly completed all the formalities, duly equipped with all the documents reached a US embassy to obtain the VISA. But she was up for a rude shock when she was handed over a pink slip implying that the decision on grant of VISA is temporarily suspended. Little did she know that her application would not be cleared until the US Homeland security, gives the clearance. All the applications of the foreign nationals awaiting  US VISA go through the security check where they ensure that they are employed for a genuine research project. VISA is granted only when the project is sufficiently funded and the research doesn't cause threat to security of their nation. Extreme caution is observed due to the imminent biological threat or the terror created by the ravishing discoveries in the field of biology in the form of bio-weapons.

What actually are these bio-weapons? How dangerous are they and why should we be aware of them?

Earlier obtaining synthetic DNA few nucleotide sequence of would have been a very costly process and technically challenging. But now a new bacterium as such as is created whose mother is a computer. For the first time a self-replicating chromosome has been synthesized which marked the beginning of the new frontiers. This chromosome has been inserted into a host bacterial cell whose genome has been emptied. The host bacterium multiplied and this new genera of bacterium with synthetic genome has made its appearance. Though a non-pathogenic and completely harmless pathogen has been created there is potential threat of this technique being employed for constructing a pathogenic and deadliest version of bacteria or virus, which is a putative bio-weapon.

 

 Researchers working with virulent microbes in lab

Syn-Bio simplified the relatively arduous task of gene manipulation. Hence the synthesis of any deadly virus or microbes whose sequence has been decoded can be artificially created. Microbes which don’t exist has become relatively less enduring.  This resulted in the development of the new cult of the biological weapons that can pose great threat to the human existence. The historical trend clearly suggests that with the evolution of any great technology there is always a grave of illegitimate use of the same. While most of offenders of man slaughter and murder can be caught easily master minds of these biological threats go undetected. Every individual is vulnerable to these attacks in the form of disease. Personalized bio weapons targeted against high profile people are less subtler and catastrophic, than the accidental plagues and weapons of mass destruction.

Rapid strides made it possible to have personalized gene therapies for end-stage cancer. To put in simple words people can upload their diseased condition on websites and then virologists can post the designs for customized care. Soon these can extend to the treatments beyond cancer and diagnostic agents like vaccines, antimicrobials and psychoactive drugs could all be tailor made to reach out to meet individual’s health requirement.

Till date almost 40 countries have a full scale Syn Bio research. China has been making giant strides in genome sequencing. The pioneering research done at the Beijing Genomics Institute is commendable. It is acknowledged to be the best institute in genomics capable of sequencing nearly 700,000 human genomes a year.

Science has become more like a double edged sword and hence there is an urgent need for proper legislation, regulations in order to curtail the usage of this superior technology for carrying out malicious objectives. It is high time that all the countries of the world join together and form an agency which can overlook all these operations and set guidelines for putting this fabulous technology to use for common good rather than using it for settling disputes between nations. History already had several examples where this technology had been used by the terrorists and radical groups to meet their malicious desires. Though there exists biological weapons convention and chemical weapons convention in place. The scope of these conventions has to be broadened and made stringent to safe-guard the humanity. Otherwise nations would have to live under the constant threat of looming biological warfare and its devastating effects. Day may not be far, just as we have an app to offer solutions, soon it be replaced by organism(synthetic), which can work out solutions for any problem.

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Sneak Peek At Drones

 Sneak Peek at Drones

As we inch closer to new technologies are we making this world messier? This was my first impression when I learnt about the Drones, popularly used by the American government during combats.

Drones are actually unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) which are pilot-less, vehicles to augment the surveillance capacity of the nation during military operations stealthily. It can be operated autonomously either by computer operated by the pilot from the ground or from a computer in other flying vehicles. They were devised initially to meet the requirement of the stealth surveillance in highly sensitive and strategically important defense locations. Currently, a huge menagerie of drones is available in various sizes, forms, shapes and purposes. They can be as huge as a size of the regular manned aircraft or as small as pocket of a back pack. Their surveillance capacities are immense. They are used during naval operation as well to detect any floating mines under water.

Sea borne Drone

They have immense capacities and can be put to best use by integrating the police force to carry out domestic surveillance. A farmer can use it to watch his fields, a builder can employ it to survey construction sites, and film makers can use it in films and Universities for scientific research. Hobbyists can use it the way they want. Different states in US wanted to adopt these drones for various purposes like fire fighting, avalanche control, oil & mineral exploration, remote sensing, detecting forest fires tracking down illegal trafficking along sensitive borders. Since they are aerial vehicles surveillance of inaccessible areas like dangerous terrains and difficult tracks is possible. Hence they are best used for forest survey or in disaster struck areas. British Petroleum has employed these vehicles from the government to survey the extent of oil spillage.

With its numerous capacities, it has flip side like privacy concerns over the use of the data concerned (law is not clear about what information the government can collect using drones), compilation of this humongous information, issues of hacking raises serious problems like tracking UAV during a mission. As they don’t have thinking capacity there is a huge risk of colliding with other flying objects within its range of operation.

Drones are the most powerful surveillance tools available till date. They can detect any object of 15cm size from 6000mt height in 12 different angles. Drones devised recently have a capacity to cruise from a height of 20,000ft for four days at a stretch. This enormous capacity indicates alarming precision and accuracy of the information.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a US government agency's permission is required to obtain Certificate of Authorization (COA), for using drones for non-recreational purposes to fly in national space. Getting approval from FAA is very time-consuming process, due to the rapid increase in the number of the permissions sought by various states and public entities. Now changes, in the form of setting up new drone testing stations and quick clearances of the application are going to find a place in the new bill.

Drones have the unique record of being put to ruthless usage during air combats. Huge numbers of overt and covert attacks were carried out by the Americans in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most of the covert attacks that resulted in death several innocent civilians were unreported. As the days for withdrawal of peace troupes from Afghanistan is nearing, the whopping 7500 drones employed by the US defense administration might be rendered jobless. Officials are busy devising alternate plans to use these highly sophisticated stealth devices for domestic use.

Hence there is growing restiveness among the civilians of the nation. People are gravely concerned about the role of drones in domestic surveillance, which can tear the curtain of their privacy. Drone technology is evolving at a rapid pace like the Darwin’s finches. With easy access of military grade technology, drones might become more powerful and freely available. In near future anyone with an iPhone and $50 can own a drone and play around with it. What has been developed as war –tactic can now boomerang and can become a menace soon. So there is a hue and cry about its usage and regulation.

 

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A New Fad In Indian Parenting

A New Fad In Indian Parenting

Indian parenting seems to have taken a new turn and the repercussions of the same is definitely going to change the dynamics of the society. The new generation parents are typically impatient and highly ambitious. The deadly combination of these two attributes is going to be deleterious for the psyche of the child in the long run. They are constantly on a run and are neck deep in this rat race to push and promote themselves at every step of their journey. The consequences are vivid: they are overworked, stressed and pressurised. As a result they are unable to enjoy the small joys of the parenthood.

Earlier generation kids were really blessed as life was not as stressed as it is now. Everything seems to be growing and moving at a faster pace now and to catch up the growing competition; people have to work much longer and harder too. This is drastically affecting the work-life dynamics. Further, Indians have some peculiar characteristics. They tend to be act submissive when they think the people around them are much stronger and they try to exert their authority and power on weaker lot. The latest targets to this kind of attitude are the innocent children who really bear the brunt of parent’s anger. They are becoming ‘soft targets’.

To be frank, I have no idea about how children are treated in foreign countries. But we Indians seem to be least concerned about their psychological growth. We hardly care about children’s interests. Parents feel that it is their responsibility to arrange for good education, clothing and shelter and hence most of them strive hard to provide them with the same. Parenting constitutes something more than just catering to their material needs. They have to spend time with their kids to understand them, guide them and to impart certain values. More often under the guise of teaching them good manners/ habits we have become more strict and violent. We seem to have totally ignored the fact that they too have emotions and tend to impose strict and meaningless discipline. We are actually burdening them with our ambitions and goals. Children are like buds, yet to bloom. Parents seem to trample them under our authority under the mask of excellence.

This trend ought to change. Now-a-days we hardly find children in playground. Every hour of the day is stringently planned out having no free time. They are busy round the clock either wading in the ocean of books or with other extra activities like sports, music, dance etc. They hardly have time for themselves-to sit, think, play and to create something. They are missing the real joy of childhood. Instead of receiving the constant attention of parents they are all the time watched by the tutors who are heftily paid for the job. The tender touch of the parents and love of the siblings and family members have completely disappeared from their lives. As they grow they would become more unruly and agitated. Parents are to be blamed for the sudden rise in violence/crime among the new generation. Most of us are totally oblivious to some of the problems faced by the youngsters of this generation. Things must change, parenting is a great boon and parents ought to be great blessing in their children’s life.

 

 

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Children Of Lesser God

Children Of Lesser God

During school days assembly was never complete without taking a pledge which all of us used recite with lot of sincerity and commitment. Though it took me a long time to understand the meaning and real essence of the pledge, I felt connected to our motherland. But today I feel so embittered and  betrayed, about 20 children lost their lives  and  fifty more are in a critical condition after consuming the mid day meals at the government school in Bihar and Maharashtra. Suddenly the whole concept of the pledge appeared fake and meaningless. We are now forced to believe if this country is for the rich, by the rich, of the rich.

 We try to emulate the west in several aspects. Then why are we lagging behind in extending similar empathy to the hapless that lost their innocent children. When the Sandy Hook Elementary school firing at Newtown happened, the manner in which the U.S. government and the head of the state handled the issue is worth praising. The parents of the children who lost lives in the firing are extended all the help and sympathy. Official condolences were conveyed in person by the President and local agencies helped them to recover from the shock. On the contrary the reaction of the Indian government and the help extended at the crucial hour of crisis is abysmal and pathetic. Even the parents of the severely poisoned children had to run pillar to post for medical help. Some to them who could have been otherwise saved with proper medical intervention at right time also lost lives due to the callous attitude of the officials. We try to ape west, but why don’t we imbibe their true spirit in face of tragedies like these.

In the face of this severe personal tragedy, the bereaved parents are protesting against the agencies for justice. Instead of offering apologies and condolences to them officials are hiding behind the iron curtains of the polity. Still there isn’t any emphatic action against the culprits. Again the regular blame-game is up in action and the politicians are trying to milk this opportunity for better leverage against their opponents. When will our country wake up? Is there no place for humanity in this politically-challenged nation?

Intellectuals proclaim that India is ushering into a new realm and dream about a vibrant and shining India. Whereas the people living in utter poverty die of hunger and utter callousness of the officials who turn a deaf ear to their wails. The growing disparities in the income is widening the gap further and state is now divided into two major groups-privileged/haves and underprivileged/have-nots. The privileged category is untouched by any of the casualties and is given a royal state treatment at the expense of the taxpayer and the underprivileged are utterly cheated, exploited as their woes are hardly taken care off.

We claim ourselves to be a soft state. Is this softness solely reserved for our belligerent and bewitching   neighbouring nations? On one hand government is making large-scale arrangements for the launch of its most ambitious Food Security Bill within a fortnight. So does it mean that the beneficiaries should gear up for rotten, substandard and adulterated food supplies in offing????

 

 

 

 

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Chanakya's Chant: Book Review

Politics is a game played enthusiastically by power mongers to have absolute control over the state. The insatiable desire for the power is the root cause for all the wars and the destruction witnessed by the mankind so far. History is replete with volumes of avaricious kings whose covetous desire for wealth and land had resulted in tumultuous wars and bloodshed. This trend has been in vogue for over several thousands of years from now. The same pattern would continue to exist till mankind fails to relinquish his greed for absolute power. The authority and absolute power brings a drastic change in the character of any person. People with great character can alone withstand the allurement of power. Another key factor in the entire process is it that the King maker is equally perspicacious compared to the king. The kingmaker is the real strategist engaged in devising all the plans and moves to topple the putative opposition or the enemy.

Politics is an art and people who can excel in outwitting the opponent will emerge as winners. The real crux lies not in strengthening his camp but weakening the opposition. It is not about absolute strength that is the boon on the contrary it is the weakness of the opposition which keeps us in good stead. It is all about the incredible game which finally determines the destiny of the country its welfare and wellbeing of its citizens.

In the light of importance of politics and its crucial role, only players with outstanding brilliance can design strategies and right moves at the right time to have the desired effect of the plan on a long term. Chanakya is acclaimed to be the best political pundit whose audacity has glorified Bharat and the reign of his protégé Chandragupta Maurya was reckoned as the golden age of India. The book Chanakya Chant by Ashwin Sanghi is an interesting read that culminated the age old strategy followed by Chanakya and the present day political moves in a befitting manner. The ultimate aim in both the cases was to acquire the political hegemony for their protégé.

The author has tried to draw parallels between the erstwhile Guru and the present day GangaSagar the king-maker and the protagonist of book. There are so many similarities between the two characters and both the stories are narrated in parallel.  The story is beautifully woven and the plot is very gripping. But most of the political plots designed by Gangasagar could be easily guessed they lacked the novelty and are the usual prototype political conspiracies hatched in movies. In short the story had a usual hand in glove kind of relationship between a goon, a greedy business man and a cunning political strategist who tries to moves the pawns carefully making eloquent use of both bad men and money to attain his ultimate motive in life.

Extensive research has been done by the author in elucidating the theories put forth by Chanakya. Some of the discussions and the humour filled conversations between Chanakya and his students are exquisitely drafted. The words were carefully chosen in all these conversations and they seem to have different intrinsic and extrinsic meaning. This sort of colloquy is just a delight for a reader.

This book finally draws a conclusion that politics is a mind-game like the game of Chess and without sagacious planning the player may not achieve the desired motive. But as always people seem to belief if the ends are good then means doesn’t matter. People condemn politics as it is involves lot of deceit, manipulation and insidious activities nevertheless peerless power and authority demands ruthlessness as evident in our contemporary world.

 

 

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My Country:My Life

Sometimes to make partisan judgements and to understand the fact of matter we have to make an extra effort to circumvent the existing calumny. I followed the same rule when I began to read the voluminous autobiography of L.K.Advani “My country, My life”.  Reading the book has been a pleasant walk into the Indian political history right from the early independence days to the year 2008.

After reading his autobiography, my respect towards politicians of early independence days has increased. They fought for a purpose and strived a lot to achieve something for the country, for the cause of nation. They were highly duty bound and were willing to sacrifice anything for principles and ideals. Sadly, this sense of respect and commitment towards an ideology is gravely missing in the new genre. The first generation of the politicians of independent India were supposedly the last generation of freedom fighters. They had a distinct vision about free India and were very enthusiastic towards the progress of the country. Though some of these leaders parted ways immediately after the first general elections due to ideological differences, they vigorously strived for the betterment of people. Hence they formed different political parties to give a voice to their principles. These parties later emerged as viable alternative to the oldest political party.

The octogenarian did a great job by dividing his entire life experiences into five different chapters. Some of the prominent past events were narrated in excruciating detail. Especially the declaration of emergency and then the sequence of events that soon followed were very well described. During emergency the press releases were highly censored and its freedom was totally curtailed. Hence authentic information of the events that happened during that period was less reported. The available reports on the other hand, don’t seem to give a comprehensive and unbiased account of the most trying period of India. Hence the repercussions and the outcomes of the emergency were least understood. The official records of those periods were highly classified. Hence the writings of these leaders are of great significance.

This book has chronicled all the important events of past 50 years hence it is a good read for enthusiastic young readers who want to know about the post-partition period and its immediate implications on both the nations.  Further, a detailed account of the audacious judgements made by the politicians at that time resulting  in the tumultuous neighbourhood has been provided.

The book offers a deep insight about the strengths and weakness of Advani. Clearly, his true mettle is reflected in his writings. His strong convictions and assertions perhaps made him to be categorised as Hindu extremist. But after reading the book we are forced to change our opinion and wish to call him a moderate and true Hindu. Since communal politics played and still continues to play a major role in changing the power dynamics, he tries to explain the meaning of word “Secularism”, its relevance, implications and its contextual inclusion in the preamble of Indian Constitution. It is sad but true that Indian politics are still dominated by the communal affiliations.  Perhaps this recently added feather of Secularism (through an amendment in 1975) to the preamble is creating and trying to exacerbate the religious differences.

 

Advani has been the most condemned leader of the present generation after the illustrious Narendra Modi for several implicit reasons. He has mentioned about all the three major controversies that has tested his character- his alleged, association/involvement during the Babri Masjid demolition, the Hawala case, the comments about Late Mohammed Ali Jinnah on his trip to Pakistan (with reference to his address in the constituent Assembly in the year 1947, which indicated his vision of present Pakistan to be a secular state).

He has attributed that his association with RSS during his early childhood days and as a youngster the lectures of Swami Ranganadananda have been influential in moulding his character. They have indeed helped him to hear to his inner call.  Patriotic spirit and service to nation were firmly instilled and rooted in his mind at an early age.

 

This book is like a compendium giving a elucidate information about both the internal and external threats. All the major issues/problems were described in great detail, further their implications and measures for immediate reprisal are explained.  Most of my doubts and misunderstandings have been clarified.  His party has been castigated widely for extremist views about religion and he was ostracised for being so vocal about Hindutva. But all the apprehensions have been satisfactorily answered. Though I don’t totally concur with his opinions on various issues, an assertive view point about each of these issues is convincing. As an erudite politician he has made every attempt to put forth all the historical events without any bias. He hasn’t missed any opportunity to trumpet out contributions made by his party during six years of NDA government in the book.

The character of a person can be judged by the way he carries himself during the dark phases of life. Throughout his political career spanning more than five decades he has emerged out as a tough and uncompromising person. I reckon him as one of the stalwarts of India politics.

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Food Security Bill: A "bait"

Food Security Bill: A“bait”?

India proudly proclaims itself as the single largest democratic world. But sadly Democracy in its worst form reigns in our land. Come elections we witness the beguile tricks of the old timers of the trade. Thanks to our political clout people seem to have vowed to succumb to their obnoxious tricks forever. Yet another, bait has been laid out for the forth coming general elections as well as ensuing assembly elections.

The sudden and dying urgency shown by the government in bringing out an ordinance on the Food Security Bill when monsoon session is due in a fortnight further speaks out its political implications on impending elections. The sequence of events in which this entire drama has been staged out springs up lot of doubts. Two aspects of the bill are of great consequence- the time and the manner it has been brought forward for discussion, approval and implementation.

On one hand while the fiscal deficit of India has reached a burgeoning high of 4.9% of GDP, government hasn’t shied away from implementing the subsidies. Food security bill if passed in the parliament would incur a burden on the exchequer to a tune 1.25 lakh crores and further 62.5 million tonnes of food grains have to be procured for the same. As the cost of cultivation of rice and wheat has increased to a tune of 45% minimum support prices can’t remain frozen. They have to be substantially increased thus increasing the burden of procurement. If the bill is implemented, agriculture subsidy deficit itself would increase to 1.25% from the existing 0.8% hence reducing the scope for diverting funds to some other developmental projects. If the government plans to contain the fiscal deficit as suggested by the Kelkar committee, other infrastructure and development oriented projects have to be suspended.

Firstly, the proposed bill aims to cover 2/3^rd of the population, with each person entitled to 5kg of the cereals per month-rice, wheat and coarse grains at Rs 3, 2, 1 for kg. Reports indicate that the public distribution system have an implementation capacity of only 46% highlighting the extent of leakages. PDS is already notorious for its pilferage. Government wants to rely on the same system for the distribution. While on the other hand, it is important to note that the most needy and homeless people fail to get the ration cards as the officials deny to sanction any card in absence of proper documents. Thus the actual beneficiaries are ostracised of all the benefits of the bill if any. To top it all, the cost of setting up the infrastructure needed for the implementation of the bill is not yet estimated. This includes identification of the beneficiaries, a system for procurement and storage of the food grains.

Secondly, biggest lacuna is how the beneficiaries are identified. This is another big issue as the study by Tendulkar Committee, suggests that any person earning Rs 28 in urban areas and Rs 22 in rural areas is considered to be living above poverty line. But still there is large conundrum as the numbers are not acceptable to most of experts due to the existing inflationary scenario of the country. (The analysis was based on the consumption patterns of the people). Hence Rangarajan Committee was set up to arrive at plausible numbers and statistics. Thus in absence of at least a fool proof method of identifying the beneficiaries what purpose is this proposed bill going to serve. Also states like Tamilnadu, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa have their own food subsidy programs, what will be the role of this bill in those states?

Thirdly, are the nutritional needs of the malnourished infants, children and pregnant women met by providing cereals alone, when prices of the fruits and vegetables are skyrocketing? Studies conducted on the impact of the food subsidies on the economically impoverished people in different countries haven’t indicated any perceptible increase in the nutritional status of the beneficiaries.

The basic intention of this essay is not undermining the efforts taken in the noble cause of providing food to the people experiencing the hunger pangs. But it is about the propriety. Already 360 millions of the people below poverty line receive kerosene, cooking gas, fertilisers and wheat/ rice at a subsidised price through the public distribution system. There is wide spread disapproval among them due to the poor quality of the grains. This further portends the state of poor storage facilities which results in wastage of grains to a tune of 6 million tonnes every year.  Finally this all comes down to the effectiveness with which these schemes are implemented. Every tier of the government agency needless to say is riddled with corruption and hence the benefits are just trickling down to the weaker section.

The eagerness and the urgency shown in introducing these bills will have a true meaning if the government shows a similar interest in delivering the goods to the needy. This necessitates the immediate need for revamping the existing PDS, identifying the beneficiaries, effective implementation and also curtailing the rerouting of the valuable food grains into commercial markets. In the absence of this deliverance system, the much hyped up Food Security Bill would result in kicking off a chain of scams.

India is severely criticised by the World Bank for its vast subsidies as it will supposedly increase economic inefficiency. On further thoughts, if the fiscal deficit on food subsidies is reduced, investments can be channelized to important infrastructure and development projects which can usher us into a realm of economic growth and development. India has to be aggressive with regards to its investments if it wants to remain competitive and garner the foreign direct investment. These subsidies on a long run would have a negative impact on the youth as they would be habituated to assured food supplies and thus become more dependent on the system for more. Instead programs that can make them self-reliant and skilled can bring the real transformation in their lives.

A choice has to be made at this juncture, since it is more than six decades of independence to either make effective use of the resources both natural and man-made or to burden the system with more deficits. Hence the bill is nothing but a “game-changer” for the government which is knee-deep in corruption. It is the desperate attempt by them to lure the masses and further assure themselves of the next term.

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Pain not a drain

‘Pain’ not a drain

A touching story or a drama or a movie sometimes triggers pain to such a heightened extent that we tend to forget ourselves and start identifying ourselves with the characters of the act and feel distressed. Pain as an emotion seems to be unique as compared its counterparts. It elicits a response in brain though difficult to bear at the time of infliction compels and drives into a mode of self-introspection.

On the other hand happiness, though contagious makes us feel exhilarated and jubilant for awhile. A happy event will make our day pleasant. There the crux of issue ends. We don’t bother to ponder about the reason behind it, we simply enjoy those moments. That must the reason why we laugh out heart fully at a funniest joke when we listen to it for the very first time. The next time it would fail to bring any laughter. Instead we might simply feel better and relaxed. I don’t mean to belittle the importance of happiness in life. No one wants fritter away happiness because it is such a precious emotion and ultimate pursuit of life is happiness. But very often we fail to realise the worthiness of life until we haven’t endured pain and suffering. Though none of us would like to invite pain into our lives, sometimes pain seems to be the way forward.

We fondly cherish all the moments of happiness and treasure them in our memories for a lifetime. But we dread to relive the events which had left a trail of agony or sorrow. If we realise, we notice that the incidents of severe anguish alone have given us the strength and courage to rebuild and restructure our lives. If not for a failure, we wouldn’t have bothered to stop for a while and understand life and its purpose. Pain alone helps us to cultivate the right perspective towards life. We try to evolve and grow after every suffering. It is like a double-edged knife, a man with a vision will further enhance the beauty of life with good acts, while an evil soul might end up being more treacherous.

" Man needs difficulties in life because they are necessary to enjoy success"- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

Nature's Fury

Nature’s Fury

Mother Nature is all powerful and supreme. The recent nature’s holocaust in Uttarakhand stands as a perfect example of the nature’s devastative rage. It is now proven beyond doubt that if we tamper and abuse nature the damage would be irreprehensible. The country has experienced the worst form of devastation. The delicate ecological balance of the nature should be protected to maintain the environmental harmony. Time and again we are reminded of this principle but we still fail to understand the importance of conservation of nature and its precious resources.

The disaster assumes greater significance as it has affected the lives of several lakhs of pilgrims from all over the country who are on their annual pilgrimage to the sacred hills popularly known as the Chardham yatra. Every Hindu dreams of visiting these places at least once in their lifetime as the Indian Mythology regards these hills are Abode of God. The tragedy has stuck the hills at the peak period of the holy trip. Rescuing the vast number of tourists on those narrow sludgy roads on a hilly terrain is an extremely difficult task. Most of the places are inaccessible and poorly connected further compounding the difficulties during the relief operations. The first step has been to evacuate the pilgrims. The sudden cloud burst had left a gory picture and it is estimated that it will take a couple of years at least to rehabilitate the locals and restore normalcy.

The Indian Air Force along with other paramilitary forces rose to this occasion and did commendable work by showing undaunted will and courage in rescuing the trapped pilgrims. They were apt to the famous saying of Dalai Lama “It is under greatest adversity there exists a greatest potential for doing good both for oneself and for others.” But on the obverse Indian power mongers’ haven’t defied purging themselves of the cheap and treacherous political games. The situation looks much more disgusting with the ruling party and the leading opposition parties vying against each other to proclaim themselves as saviours of people. The hapless tourists who were the worst sufferers of the nature’s fury have fallen into the hands of greedy politicians who under the guise of rescue are hoarding them into their opportunistic dens.

It is disheartening to know about thousands of people, mostly the locals whose lives have been tattered by the cloud burst. The plight of the local people of the state is deplorable. They have lost everything in their lives. Though temporary arrangements for their rehab are made, the psychological stress and mental trauma of losing absolutely everything would make their lives very burdensome. Even the pilgrims who were trapped in the place during the entire tragedy would never be able to recover from the disastrous trail they have watched or might have gone through. For the most unfortunate, who have lost their loved ones; it would be a worst night mare. People’s morale seems to have taken back footing and they are psychologically affected and general mood indicates that they are really frightened to settle back in the hills.

The damage caused by the floods in terms of number of lives lost and infrastructure losses could have been curtailed had the Government machinery been little more alert. The consecutive state governments failed to heed to the counsel of the environmentalists and warnings of the geologists who strongly detested against any huge constructions. In spite of numerous advises from the scientists, government went ahead ruthlessly with construction of numerous Hydel Power plants across the rivers  putting a lot of pressure on these hills. The narrow roads and the cliffs have crumbled apart under the impact of heavy downpour during these floods. Thus, several villages were wiped off completely.

Further, the gross oversight and laxity of administrative authorities in spite of the severe weather forecasting of the looming and the impending threat looks so comical. Together the floods have highlighted the unpreparedness of nation towards a calamity of such huge scale. To top it all various government agencies started playing the eternal blame-game characteristic of India trying to veil their in competencies and in efficiencies in public.  This entire aftermath after any disaster has become so common that people failed to trust any agency. The irony in a country like India is all the higher ups having the authority and power are least affected by any of these tragedies and the poor hapless people are the ultimate sufferer’s. The corruption, red tape and the greed for the power of the rulers is taking a huge toll on Indian public.

By and large there has been tremendous response about Uttarakhand’s massive floods both in terms of relief & rescue offered by Government and people’s response in terms of physical participation and voicing out their concerns. I would broadly categorise the public opinions into two- scientific and mythological. Mythology claims the place to be having Divine attributes and hence when the people who lack the religious fervour, devotion and faith in the sanctity visit these places tsunamis of this kind are bound to happen. They view it as an act of cleansing the evil by the Lord. Scientific outlook being more rational suggests that abusing the existing ecosystem of the Himalayan terrains has resulted in nature’s fury. But the basic underlying point is very clear- when nature is abused we are bound to reap the results of the imbalance caused. Be it in terms of number of people visiting the mountainous terrain thus putting lot of pressure on the already overburdened and delicate infrastructure in place or a basic change in perception of people towards the sanctity of place. Instead of embarking on these hills with respect, people started perceiving it as adventure tourism and hence the new craze. So the answer is simple, indiscriminate modernisation and overburdening of the fragile niche of hills results in breaking the ecological balance of the place and leading invariably to complete annihilation.

 

 

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