Appeasement

We as a nation are becoming hypocritical. Our senses are not with us. Leaders have lost all kind of rational thinking. Otherwise how do you explain a person like Dr.Manmohan Singh making a comment that the first right on resources is by Muslims.
If you want to improve some one, do by all means but by not making others inferior.
As a nation, we are hell bent about changing the yardstick of success. We may not feel the repercussions today but surely we will.
Will India ever have a revolution?

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TOLERANCE--TO WHAT EXTENT ?

I wake up from hibernation to find the basic structure of me being destroyed. I am turning intolerant. I want to blame everybody for the bomb blasts. I introspect, I find no concrete answers.
Why are we being targeted again and again ? What is so special about Mumbai that we are following Gandhiji's advice literally?Do we have short term and long term solutions ?
In short term we need to realise that acting tough does help.
It is the meek who are bullied. We need to punish the guilty and send a strong message that we will not tolerate divisive polticis from any body. A revolution is needed because we are all dead and we need to be resurrected.

In long run I have the following passage from UNESCO.

The appreciation of diversity, the ability to live and let others live, the ability to adhere to one's convictions while accepting that others adhere to theirs, the ability to enjoy one's rights and freedoms without infringing on those of others, tolerance has always been considered a moral virtue. Tolerance is also the foundation of democracy and human rights. Intolerance in multi-ethnic, multi-religious or multicultural societies leads to violations of human rights, violence or armed conflict.How do we achieve tolerance?Intolerance raises many moral questions. It always has. In the 1990s intolerance also raises political questions. Intolerance is increasingly seen as a major threat to democracy, peace and security. Understandably, the issue is alarming governments and the public. Yet, any talk of intolerance raises more questions than it answers.Intolerance has been ever present in human history. It has ignited most wars, fuelled religious persecutions and violent ideological confrontations. Is it inherent in human nature? Is it insurmountable? Can tolerance be learned? How can democracies deal with intolerance without infringing on individual freedoms? How can they foster individual codes of conduct, without laws and without policing their citizens' behavior? How can peaceful multiculturalism be achieved?Laws are necessary but not sufficient for countering intolerance in individual attitudes. Intolerance is very often rooted in ignorance and fear: fear of the unknown, of the other, other cultures, nations, religions. Intolerance is also closely linked to an exaggerated sense of self-worth and pride, whether personal, national or religious. These notions are taught and learned at an early age. Therefore, greater emphasis needs to be placed on educating more and better. Greater efforts need to be made to teach children about tolerance and human rights, about other ways of life. Children should be encouraged at home and in school to be open-minded and curious.Education is a life-long experience and does not begin or end in school. Endeavours to build tolerance through education will not succeed unless they reach all age groups, and take place everywhere: at home, in schools, in the workplace, in law-enforcement and legal training, and not least in entertainment and on the information highwaysFighting intolerance requires access to information:Intolerance is most dangerous when it is exploited to fulfil the political and territorial ambitions of an individual or groups of individuals. Hatemongers often begin by identifying the public's tolerance threshold. They then develop fallacious arguments, lie with statistics and manipulate public opinion with misinformation and prejudice. The most efficient way to limit the influence of hatemongers is to develop policies that generate and promote press freedom and press pluralism, in order to allow the public to differentiate between facts and opinions.Fighting intolerance requires individual awareness:Intolerance in a society is the sum-total of the intolerance of its individual members. Bigotry, stereotyping, stigmatizing, insults and racial jokes are examples of individual expressions of intolerance to which some people are subjected daily. Intolerance breeds intolerance. It leaves its victims in pursuit of revenge. In order to fight intolerance individuals should become aware of the link between their behavior and the vicious cycle of mistrust and violence in society. Each one of us should begin by asking: am I a tolerant person? Do I stereotype people? Do I reject those who are different from me? Do I blame my problems on 'them'?Fighting intolerance requires local solutions:Many people know that tomorrow's problems will be increasingly global but few realize that solutions to global problems are mainly local, even individual. When confronted with an escalation of intolerance around us, we must not wait for governments and institutions to act alone. We are all part of the solution. We should not feel powerless for we actually posses an enormous capacity to wield power. Nonviolent action is a way of using that power-the power of people. The tools of nonviolent action-putting a group together to confront a problem, to organize a grassroots network, to demonstrate solidarity with victims of intolerance, to discredit hateful propaganda-are available to all those who want to put an end to intolerance, violence and hatred.

IN hIBERNATION

till july end.

DELHI AND SRINAGAR BLASTS

If we dont send strong message to the militants, these things will keep on happening. The frequency with which they are able to disrupt our lives and get away with it, amazes me. Each individual citizen should take up responsibility to end any kind of terrorism by anybody.
Terrorists capitalize on our ability to get terrorized. We need to carry on with our normal activities but at the same time have cuorage to expose the 'black sheeps'.
Let us take collective effort to lead a better life.

Apology

First I apologise for going into hibernation without informing.

VARNASI BLASTS-MUTED RESPONSE

We have become used to everything in life. Nothing shakes us. Our tolerance should get a Noble prize. The death of numerous ordinary citizens at Varnasi has been accepted without much fuss. I am not talking of political mileage but the intellectual debate and action required. The print media has also not come forth with editorials demanding tougher stance from the government.
We are projecting a very soft government and our inability to punish the culprits gives courage to the miscreants. Let us look at the recent terrorist attacks. In August 2003, two bomb blasts in Bombay killed more than 50 people. In September 2004, around 30 people died in a gun attack on a temple in Gujarat. And last October, more than 60 were killed in a series of bomb blasts in Delhi. In Hyderabad last October, a suicide bomber blew himself up 200 yards from the Andhra Pradesh state Chief Minister's office, killing only himself. And in Bangalore in December, a man ran into a conference at the Indian Institute of Technology and hurled several grenades which failed to explode, before firing a AK-47, killing a professor.
Our apathy is completely opposite to what the Americans have done. I do not agree with the Bush governments antics but he has been able to curb acts of terrorism at least on American soil.
It is high time we took a tough stance and send a strong message to every one concerned. Our pseudo secular leaders are making this country impotent.
To begin with we need to weed out the corrupt officials within the government. It is hard to imagine that these criminals can exist without the support of the government machinery in one form or the other.

Freedom of Speech

Inspite of all the bad things which one can find in this country, it is a great a place to live. We are fortunate to be here , the land of possibilities. Of course, it is also our responsibility to make this country a much better place to live and work. Today we are fortunate that we can dream big , we are allowed the freedom to dream. The difficulty is in realising the dreams. There are so many bottlenecks that we soon forget our dreams and aspirations and live a mechanistic life.
But we should atleast thank the good thinks we have. This thoughts came in response to the censorship in China. The chinese government has curbed free press and has also jailed some of its journalists.The shameful fact is that the leading international new-age industries are also complying with the Chinese government, like Google, Yahoo etc. It is scary to think of losing one's freedom, to even think and dream.
Without an unbiased press it is difficult to think rationally.

Remembering Manjunath

The recent news takes up our grey matter. To put things into perspective , I remind myself of the brutal murder of IIM graduate Manjunath, who was killed in Uttar Pradesh by a Petrol Bunk owner. We have no clue regarding where the case is headed. With defunct police machinery and over burdened judiciary, we all can be sure that the law will not punish the culprits in this life time.
It is important for us to collectively raise our voice against this matter because the evidence is fresh and it involved punishing a person for being honest. The youth of India will be guided in the right direction, if cases of this nature come to their logical end at the earliest. Otherwise the cynicism and brain drain will continue. Not only that the so called honest aspirants of public service(IAS, IPS, etc) will surrender their morals for fear of death.
Let us try to seek justice for Manjunath.

Hindustan Times_Vir Sanghvi_Jessica Lal

This counter point written by Vir Sanghvi in Sundays HT reflects some of my thoughts on the Jessica Lal matter. Unfortunately the article is not available online and for their archives u requrire to pay.
I will smmarise his opinion. It says that there is no point in blaming the judiciary, instead the corrupt police officers should be questioned and taken action against.

There is Hope

Any nation is known by the protection, justice and rights it gives to its citizen. The history of the mighty being convicted for their crimes is not to be found. The powerful do not commit any crime , or it is impossible to convict a powerful person who has commited crime.
Jessica Lals case also seems to have the same fate of not finding justice. But ther seems to be a glimmer of hope. The media pressure and the voice raised by the citizens has probably made some difference. Without being cynical let me hope the guilty do get punished.
As I have mentioned previously the public memory is very short and this is best exploited by the politicians. Some of the news agencies carrying report of Jessica's story, the links to them.....

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=171367

http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/26/stories/2006022614870100.htm

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=jessicalall&slug=Jessica+case%3A+Public+anger+builds+up&id=18840&callid=0&category=National

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1428964.cms

Well there is a plan to review the blog at the end of the year. Let us see whether Jessica Lal's soul will be at peace at that time.

Electricity in Mumbai

I dont live in a suburb of Mumbai but still I am considered to be living in Mumbai. I live around 50 kms away from Mumbai. Power cuts have become regular in the last one year. Slowly we have started accepting this as a way of life. Maharashtra was once upon a time had surplus power and it has a huge deficit. People and politicians blame the situation on various things. The Enron debacle being one of them, lack of foresight by the leaders. At present around 6 hrs of power cut is there in urban area and 12 hrs power cut in rural area. The citizens have learnt to accept this and live with it. From the reports I have read , things will start to improve ,if any action is taken today, only from 2008. The questions which come to my mind ?

1. The different billboards in Mumbai must be consuming lot of energy, I think they should be asked to go solar. They are exposed to sunlight continuously and they ,the big people ,have the money to put the solar panels.
2. Lighting for heritage buildings should also be considered on the same lines.
3. Reconsider free supply of electricity to farmers.
4. There is around 30-40% distribution losses , which needs to be controlled immediately.
5. I personally know of some people, educated who have their meters tampered , hand in glove with the electricity line man, and therefore they dont get a bill more than minimum. as a result they use electricity without any responsibility.
6. Most government institutions use electricity without any responsibility. Make an individual responsible in each department and give him incentive for reducing power consumption in his department. Most of the lights, fans ACs are on when even nobody is there. There is tremendous scope for tightening the belt without affecting the business.

See the irony of it , the analysts talk of making Mumbai a international business hub like Singapore or Hong Kong, and as I walk the streets of Dadar, there is no electricity.

Let there be light !

Land in Mumbai

As a Mumbaite I have the preivilege of travelling in the local train. My journey is of one hour and I come across the whole of India. There are no complaints, everybody has accepted the inhuman conditions in which we all travel . U will have to see it to believe it. Recently I read an article in DNA that most of the land leased to big shots have had their expiry date and even where there are legitimate lease, the lease rent is pathetic. They pay pittance to what amount of land they are using. The corporation, mayor all are silent on this front. The rates paid by the common man defy all logic , when u consider that the BMC and the state is losing revenue to the tune of 4000 crores per year. That is lot of money and think u is benefitting from it bcos we dont dare or care to ask.

India Uncut

Well i was just going thru Amit verma's India Uncut and it impressed me. Precisely today he is writing about the journalist arrested for writing a report on pets. I will definitely be interested to know how they tackle this ? For those who have not read India Uncut , u can surely give it some time.

Welcome

There are many things which strike us , ignite our passion and then slowly die out. We have collectively lost the ability to strive towards collective good. A good movie moves us , but only till the next day and then we are again back to daily grind.
The fact that Manu Sharma and his friends have been acquited and we are no wiser regarding who killed Jessica Lal, this took the courts seven years to decide. Do u read and understand what I do.
A police officer with a salary of 9000 has assets worth 45 lacs and he is hounded by the ACB , all of a sudden. Did they realise that he is corrupt only now ? Tell me how many police officers are u aware of who are living thier life beyond their means ? Are we blind ? An IAS officer commands the maximum dowry of around 1 crore because he is going to earn honestly ?
The big fish and the small fish always escape , it is the medium fish which gets trapped. Daya Nayak is a medium fish who will soon be forgotten, but is he being made a scapegoat to hide the real things ? I dont know .
I wonder how much of reality we all know ? Most of our information is based on media or the movies , and we need to use our discretion to believe them . It is always good to have a pinch of salt while reading hyped up news. Also the collective memory of us is very short ?
So forget everything and continue to enjoy life.