Weakest Democracy

Selecting a less musty apple from a bunch of stale fruit would eventually lead to severe health problems. Same is true while electing a sleazy candidate as a nominee of yours in the government to frame rules and regulations for you. Choosing a bad from worse won’t solve a country’s problem. However, it can vitiate the present system of governance to even much pernicious state. 

India’s soi-disant Mahatma once criticized the representative democracy as emblems of slavery. He added that it is a superstition and an ungodly thing to believe that an act of a majority binds a minority. 59% Indians turnout to vote in the last general election that were held in 2009. Mathematically that meant 41 percent of adult Indian voters refused to take part in elections. Approximately 37% out of 59% voted for the Congress to rule over them. 15% Indian voters went with NDA while the rest voted for the third front. Ironically, the biggest share was of those Indian voters who didn’t want any political party to rule.

Yet, the UPA government with a minority of votes claimed the right to govern i.e. rule the whole of India. Such obtrusion of human rights isn’t new to India. India claims to be largest democratic country in the world still views of large educated section of the society are unheard purposely. Democracy by definition means the government by people. That means there must be an alternative if majority of people aren’t in support of any political party ruling over them. 

A question peeps out in my mind that when majority of adult educated Indians aren’t in support of a mass plebiscite in the form of general or assembly elections than why are we bearing down the load of democracy? Isn’t it stupid than to pay tax from your hard earned money in order to run a democratic alliance formed by minority of people? Often we hear various governments using misleading word “consent of the people” as a refuge to hide their incompetence. Consent of the people is again a very perturbing notion. Did Indians signed any legislative document or agreed upon any contract?

As a whole it all looks gloomy and imaginary like a fairy tale and we are forced to not only accept but also respect it. Also, why never did the majority that didn’t want any political party to rule over them revolted against this brutal practice? The answer is simple yet complicated. Majority of Indians never cared whether their country follows democratic principles or some other form of governance. The government never allowed majority of Indians to take an active role in the formation of government. Fallacious stories like politics is dirty were furnished from the beginning to prevent educated Indians to take an active part. Involving educated people directly in the mainstream political scenario of the country was always resisted. Instead, services involving government like banks, railways, etc. were created to make people work under an authoritarian rule. 

What’s the solution? It’s hard to reap out completely an established form of draconian practice. The best possible way I see is not to vote. Still there are minority of people believing in a failed democratic dictatorship and will go out to vote.

Time to Change | Views expressed are personal | Figures might vary.

A Hard Nut to Crack

Trekking high to the mountains of Kailash at the abode of Lord Shiva finding solace I happened to bounce back on many of the life hardest dark realities which I confronted in my last post. This time I won’t ride the personal cart and will try to discover an accord with country irresolvable disputes.

Our country Preamble provides us the liberty to worship any religion of our choice in a way which suits us the best. Over the centuries many different religions were embraced by the state, many of which like Buddhism and Jainism were formed in order to demulsify the corrupt practices in the main Hinduism religion.  Other major religion practiced in the sub-continent is the Sikhism which again finds its root deeply penetrated in the country’s biggest religion, Hinduism. Islam and Christianity are the only two other major religion which were brought up in the sub-continent with the advent of foreign traders and still after years of emulsification are looked down as something extrinsic. 

I’m not a religious fanatic but a simple question sometimes haunts me that when majority of religions in India can be seen as the branches of the primary tree Hinduism than why time again and again only the saffron clad people are exempted from the government and other social organizations sympathy? Why aren’t they included in the government religious reforms? Why only there schools of worships are tormented by state associations for disturbing the secular fabric of the country? 

Another perplexing topic swinging in my mind is the flexible nature of our constitution which provides RIGHT TO LIVE even to a person who brutally killed thousands. Such is the apathy of political class in troubled states that once a terrorist surrenders he gets a government job with all criminal cases registered in his name omitted irrespective of the fact that the same person killed hundreds of innocent people and many of our brave soldiers died fighting against him. 

Have you seen recently a full page advertisement in the dailies letting you know about the government ambitious project? All such initiatives come with a deadline as to complete the project in the set amount of time. But in our great corrupt country hardly ever a project met its deadline. Even after completing the project many loopholes exists telling us about the miserable state machinery. 

While heading for the Mt. Kailash I witnessed shoddy affairs of the booming telecom and energy sector. I encountered many hydro-electricity projects on the way but none able to supply electricity to the nearest village even for few hours. While the rest of India is connected through an enhanced communication network the towns there were grasping even for the slightest of signal. Parliamentarians start visiting the villages and towns in your constituencies asking for breath of growth and development or you may have to face lakhs of Anna.  

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Reservations: A Weakest Review

Have you ever been a victim or a beneficiary of the government of India’s policy of reservation? You have reached the right place if your answer is in affirmative and for all others, please don’t waste your time in experiencing one over here. The idea of the post came after I watched Prakash Jha directed full of social and political drama movie Aarakshan last weekend.

Framers of the constitution of India in order to provide equal opportunities to the oppressed lower caste people came out with a questionable and short-sighted idea of providing them with a tool known as reservations. It reserves certain number of posts in public sector units and in all public and private educational institutions for the lower castes.

Reservations over the years changed its prime facia from being  given only on the basis of caste initially to particulars like sex, state of domicile, rural people, religion, defence background, sports, NRI, etc making it into the eligibility criteria to avail one now.

Reservations should be based on economic status instead of caste-based-reservations.

Constitution makers in order to avoid widespread resentment created a speculated deadline of ten years to implement reservation with full vigour to wash away all the inequality perpetuating in the society. But due to corrupt vote-bank political practises each successive government in the centre has only increased the speculated time period and even after 65 years of Independence the inequality exists.

Ironically the same constitution guarantee each and every Indian right to equality which is fully undermine by the right to reservation. People supporting it often cry foul of reservations being instrumental in delivering social justice but sadly none government dared to review the actual impact of such policies. Not only reservation schemes weaken equality laws but also it bore from within the quality of education.

Reservation is a tool to meet narrow political ends.

Over the years caste based reservation have wrecked the social fabric of the country instead of providing a environment of harmony and peace as envisaged in the constitution. Reservations cause friction among social groups. Sadly there are instances where castes not included in the reservation fight and clashes with government to also get admitted and enjoy benefits of reservations.

Reservation system with rising unemployment has created a large scale civil unrest in the minds of higher caste people. More and more students from higher castes are leaving the country for foreign universities which has aggravated the problem of brain drain. Half of India living in the villages devoid of schools, hospitals and basic infrastructure don’t need reservations for higher education but socio-economic development in the grass root level.

A year back the women's quota bill was introduced in the parliament thus increasing the competition for victimhood status. Interestingly in few states reservation exceeds even beyond 50% mark thus making it hard for general category to strive for air of progress. 

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Anti-Ragging Affidavit: A Curious Outlook

For past three years I have been submitting an anti-ragging affidavit for getting myself register for the next academic session in my college.

The affidavit in bold letters read: Undertaking from the Students as per the provisions of anti-ragging verdict by the honorable Supreme Court that I have read and understood the directives of the Honorable Supreme Court of India on anti-ragging and the measures proposed to be taken in the above references. I understand the meaning of Ragging and know that the ragging in any form is a punishable offence and the same is banned by the Court of Law. Also, I have not been found or charged for my involvement in any kind of ragging in the past. However, I undertake to face disciplinary action / legal proceedings including expulsion from the Institute if the above statement is found to be untrue or the facts are concealed, at any stage in future. And lastly, I shall not report to ragging in any form at any place and shall abide by the rules / laws prescribed by the Courts, Govt. of India and the Institute authorities for the purpose from time to time.

Every time when I see my peers and other students outside the notary office fulfilling this impracticable yet noted exercise I ask myself a question… will a sheet of paper help in solving the menace of ragging? 

I know an affidavit is more than just a mere sheet of paper; it’s a legal agreement of yours with the state laws whose violations may get you in deep trouble. Still, the question remains intact, does the possibility of getting punish stops one from committing crime? If making laws would have served the purpose than our society would have been crime and criminal free. There would have been no need of police to grab the criminals, lawyers to get them convict and judges for announcement of punishment. Isn’t it? 

There’s also another question peeping in my intrusive mind. What’s the difference between ragging and a healthy introduction? Ragging in form of any violent activity can never be justified. But does asking a junior about his/her name falls in the purview of ragging? I won’t talk of other courses but as far as engineering is concerned majority of the students enrolled aren’t from the same city and hail from across the country with varied family and cultural backgrounds. And, thus seniors act as their guardians, friends, counselor and motivator in a new environment. There are colleges across the country where the institution itself organizes introduction party. Also, the same is true when you join a new workplace. So ragging and introduction can’t be seen with the same glasses.

I’m of the opinion that instead of framing laws government, lawmakers and institutions should devote more time and energy in creating an ambience free of criminality in the pensive minds of students.

Also, is ragging a one sided affair?

Yeah almost it is a one sided affair. I never heard something like a junior ragging a senior except in Munnabhai MBBS. But, have heard many-a-times a junior using the special power vested in his/her hand for settling personal repulsive disputes. The voice of the senior is heard only after his being expelled even when he did nothing offensive. Isn't such a callous law against the basic tenets of democracy? 

Summing up the post, laws without creating awareness will die out in affidavits like such.

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A New International India

Subhas Chandra Bose and many others were adamantly opposed to a standing army. Army’s not only eats away the countries money but also takes its blood. And it just keeps getting worse, politician may say that armed personal are there to defend our freedom but in reality they are fighting and dying to make the rich richer and create endless new enemies for the state. 

How can any government justify spending 2.8% of countries GDP on defense related purpose when still after 62 years of Independence we are looked down as a poor country? We have people been starving for millions of years and instead of giving them a better future our country spends billions for becoming a super power and competing in a mad race of power, fame and money.

Why don’t we declare India an international country? Isn’t it wise to drop the boundaries, all passport limitation and disbanding the army? India should declare that it is no longer a nation, that it belongs to the whole world. We truly know the fact that wining a war against China, Russia or America is out of the cards for us. As a matter of fact China already occupies thousands of miles of our land and India has not even the guts to ask them for the speedy return of that land.

Jawaharlal Nehru once said, "That land is useless, not even grass grows there." So if not even grass grows there and it is useless, why did we go to war in the first place? We should have told the Chinese that you can occupy as much as you can. Not even grass grows. We give it to you as a gift. Wasn’t that would have been more gentlemanly—to give it to them as a gift, rather than to be defeated. 

So when we cannot win the conventional war why not take some other course? We should declare that from henceforth we won’t be maintaining any army, will be sending all the troops to fields or factories and for doing public good. We have been attacked in our past, so our arms and armies don't help.

People will argue that in such a situation India will become an easy target for anyone to attack but even now we live in such a hostile environment where anybody can attack us—what difference does it make? Even the biggest powers have been attacked. We have seen powerful and mighty nations like Germany and Japan being defeated.

In fact, then to attack India will become extremely difficult because there will be a worldwide condemnation. A country, who declares itself defenseless, drops its arms and goes to the fields and the factories, welcomes everybody who wants to come, to invest and to bring industries. It will be almost impossible for anybody to attack India because the whole world will be against that attacker.

We will garnish so much sympathy and support worldwide that no country will dare to harm us.

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Cabinet Reshuffle: UPA 2

What if BCCI replaces Sachin with Joginder Sharma? Yeah, you read it right, and please don’t give me that bizarre look, I know I may sound stupid but, when Cabinet posts are given to people with least expertise than why not the same model be followed elsewhere. 

I know, like always I’m late again and this time I’m late by a month.  Last month, UPA government reshuffled the Cabinet group of ministers. The reason they gave defied logic; they said Cabinet reshuffle aims in bringing new zeal and fresh blood yet most of the departments had the same old guards. Everyone knows the reason behind cabinet reshuffle.

It was done more to hide recent incompetency of the government than to infuse more of youth participation. Last year would have been very tough for UPA 2. The involvement of top notch ministers in corruption charges and scams and Prime Minister resistant attitude ridiculed the government. It gave the opposition a chance to intensify their demand of forming a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the wrongs in 2G spectrum. The government at times looked so keen to protect its ministers accountable for the mayhem that they even sacrificed the whole winter session of the Parliament, wasting enormous public money. 

Adding to the UPA 2 disaster lists was the sharp hike in prices of Petrol and Onion. Public sentiments were going against the government and something major was needed to be done on the part of Prime Minister. The only possible way for an allayment was a reshuffle.

Yet, things went quite contrary to the beliefs. Government would have never anticipated that reshuffling would only help in making UPA 2 look impotent. Entrusting a single Minister with two or more ministries showed the lack of bench strength in UPA 2.  

Reshuffling must have been truly carried out to bring in more of youth participation. Moreover, it looked like transfer of powers within the Cabinet Ministers rather than a complete change of guards. A week ago Honorable Supreme Court ordered the government to let it and the rest of India know the reason behind including former state Chief Minister in the Cabinet who misused his discretionary powers. 

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Words Unheard: The story of a Onion

Words Unheard, I guess, it’s the most appropriate topic for the article written hereafter. Onion constitutes the basic ingredient of Indian food and yet it’s far away from their reach. It’s the staple vegetable of India. But, the skyrocketing price of Onion has compelled the common man to keep a distance from it.

Isn’t it quite embarrassing on the part of the UPA government who are making all sorts of tall claims to curb the high inflation rate? Government yet again blamed the uneven weather for the current rise in Onion prices. But, isn’t it worrisome that a country like ours which needs to feed the 15% of the world population still depends on weather for the production of one of its most staple vegetable? The uncertain weather has always been a problem for agriculture so don’t you feel the government should focus more on unconventional means of farming rather than sticking to the dogmas?

So, why a sudden price hike? Government blames the high rainfall in the Nasik region which unfortunately is the Asia’s biggest Onion production region for the sudden spur in prices. But, a closer look will tell you that a close nexus in between the government officials and the middlemen holds the key to the whole price hike problem. Government knew that there will be a shortage of Onion in the domestic market in the coming days, yet it never banned its export. This shows its incompetency to predict the natural fallout of an event. Adding to the problem was the strike of trade unions in Nashik and Delhi. 

Now, the only respite for the country is to wait for the trucks full of Onions being imported from the neighboring country Pakistan. According to recent reports, government has asked the people to bear the price hike for at least 2-3 weeks more. Till then, people are left either with the choice of not eating a Onion or to buy one for Rs. 100 per Kg. 

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