Versus the Nature…
We alone are responsible for our self-destruction.Look at us when something called Natural Disaster approaches us, we are completely helpless and caught off-guard. We are never prepared for facing anything coming to us, and this is because we are so busy managing other things that we forget our prime consent and begin wandering like a dog.
Consider the case of Mumbai. The city is ever-bulging since it became the financial capital of India. The population holding capacity of the city has been crossed way back in 1990’s. CIty’s area is very less as compared to it population. Yet again new bunch of people are coming from outside and coming straight to Mumbai as if Mumbai is the lone reruiter of each and everybody. People come inMumbai, they build their own house somewhere (a hut or 2 room cottage) or buy an apartment and stay here forever. But it’s not the end,one family of 5 people coming in Mumbai is not satisfied by the outcome, they ask their relatives also to come and join them in the race of earning money and that too in Mumbai.Let me make one thing clear here. I am not against of anybody coming in Mumbai and making a living here. But the thing is Mumbai isalso having its limits of area and population bearing capacity. It can not accommodate ever bulging population. Can it? The city’sprevious and original boundaries have long been erased and new boundaries are being build every now and then. AAMDAR NIWAS (thatsa guest house for the MLA’s stands dangerously on the sea. The land on which the MLA Guest House has been constructed is a very dangerousplace. The sea has been pushed back to some extent to build MLA Guest house there, so there are very much chances that sea will sometimeor other will burst of and will come with great intensity again to find us helpless.
We have seen what a massacre that can be when nature shows that he is greater to any brain and force by humans.26th July 2005 has seen Mumbai crumbling to the heavy (well, heavy will be an understatement) rain. The drainage were not cleaned upand people were unaware. The day saw many of the people in Mumbai drowning with the force of water and furnitures and vehicles were accompanying them. People were so helpless that for weeks the life could not come back on track. Ground floor residents took shelterin the upper floor resident’s house for more than a week. What does this show? That we should take things seriously and make arrangements for proper drainage and disposal system. But even after 4 years of the incident, Mumbai drainage has not been looked after. When asked to clear the doubt the officials say that we are certainly looking after them and by a month or so we will clear them up, but still the situation is pretty the same. Take the case of Tsunami that struck which caught people in Chennai, Mumbai and some other coastal regions off-guard. We can’t really say that we were caught off-guard because we were having fair idea of the tsunami coming to India.
But even then people were not able to vacate the premises. Not only in Mumbai, but in Chennai too there was a heavy traffic jam and the crowd was not able to vacate the city properly and effectively making them vulnerable to the incoming tsunami waves. And the same happened. People were caught running and were killed by the mighty waves.
Even after such a situation, we haven’t learnt a lesson. The recent threat of Phyan cyclone hitting Konkan, Mumbai coast and Gujrat coast was nothing less than a terror in people’s mind. Government also haven’t learnt a lesson about administration. I doubt the capacities of thepeople who are administrators of cities like Mumbai and Chennai or some other city too. When Phyan cyclone was expected to hit Mumbairegion between 3:30-4:30 PM how thoughtfull is it to start vacating the city from 1:00 and 2:00 PM? The government offices and schools were asked to close down by 2:00 PM and 1:00 PM respectively. If everybody is set to be released at the same time, will there not be a heavy traffic jam on the roads? And the same happened in various parts of Mumbai. At around 3-4 PM people were still struggeling to break the traffic jam and get back to home. Consider the situation, what if Phyan cyclone would have actually hit Mumbai? These people were obviousvictims. How forged, bad and regretful the situation could have been? Can’t the so called administrators see such things?
This is high time we should think of managing a city properly. We have time and again seen how cruel nature can be if we start to play with it unthoughtfuly and foolishly. We have made various silly mistakes and now they are starting to pay off by forcing the nature to turn ugly.I am not against of anybody coming here in Mumbai and making a living, it’s their right and I am no one to deny that right. But people also should understand that every city has its limits and Mumbai have certainly long back have crossed the limits. Mumbai is so much out of bounds now to manage it properly. The boundaries have been pushed back, the population is shooting like anything and people are coming in bulk everyday. Shouldn’t we stop somewhere and introspect what we have done till now? How bad effects have crawled in because ofour greed and un-thoughtfullness? There are certainly other cities to migrate to, and Mumbai is not on the list anymore and it should not be. I ask why to migrate for some pity work? I suppose we can develop our own states and cities and can live happily there without jeopardising the nation.
If people keep on coming to Maharashtra or rather specifically Mumbai, where the original Maharashtrians will go? This is high time thatwe should think over this issue, otherwise we will be left we not time to act on it. It’s already late to reverse the harm we have caused to nature.Here onwards we can atleast try and not harm the mother earth. If we take care of the nature, nature will take care of Us. Otherwise, the ugly face of nature is too harsh to stand against.
USA also faced similar threats from Nature like Katrina and wild fire in the jungles that they couldn’t control before the fire burnt everything. We are destructing the very source of Earth’s stability and peace. If we don’t make a move right now, we will be done within some years only. Melting glaciers and rising sea levels, increasing heat and big changes in the climates, seasons being toppled and all natural resources coming to an end are all shouting loudly to tell us that WE are on a wrong path. But the shout is falling on the deaf ears so the nature has to take some serious steps. But even after those steps we are not learning things.
Nature has its own way of maintaining the balance of everything that’s present in nature, let that be population or other natural things. Nature’s way is no doubt the ugly way of clearing the surface but can’t help it. Nature takes a lottery and whoever comes on the list is cleared without any second thoughts. If human want to play dirty games with nature, as he has always been doing, trying to be over smart and trying to be the controller or the world, keep this in mind that in the game of Human v/s nature, nature will always and for sure will win. No second thoughts.
Nature has played the shot and now the ball’s in your (or rather our court) and its our time to play the shot. So decide what shot you want to play.
Falling Fertility Rate in India…
One of the boons for India in recent times is “Falling Fertility Rate”. Though this is a boon for India the reasons behind this falling fertility rate should be understood. I read one article about falling fertility rate globally in Indian Express today. The reasons written there were apt for global view but were somewhat less as compared to India. So I thought of enlisting some more reasons those are responsible for falling of fertility rate in India.
1) For almost all of the 20th Century (that is 1900-2000) an average single family wanted a baby boy instead of baby girl. So they had babies till they bore baby boy. This was until 1970’s. The in-laws were also particular about having baby boy than baby girl. This caused a huge difference and acted as catalyst in rising the fertility rate.
According to a book “Population in Asia” by Warren C. Sanderson and Jee Peng Tan,
in 1980-1988 fertility rate in India fell from 4.4 BPM (Births Per Mother) to 4.0 BPM. Again in 1988-1991, fertility rate fell from 4.0 BPM to 3.6 BPM. Thus on as average, the total fertility rate fell by 0.05 births per year between 1980-88, and more than twice as fast, 0.13 births per year between 1988-91.
Thus we can see that as the mindset has changed towards having any baby than particular baby boy. Thus taking the fertility rate further down to current 2.72.
2) People in India are becoming more career oriented now-a-days. So they are happy with even a single child so as to balance their work and family life. Even a single baby is enough for them to take care of.
3) As economy is emerging fast and its becoming hard to cope up with the pace of economic boom and competition, people are more and more drifting towards the mindset of having less children.
4) With increasing stress and work load, health of people is deteriorating rapidly making them physically less fit to bear more than 2 children. Not that they are expected to bear more than 2 children, but they find themselves incompetent. Less physical capacity and aftermaths of having a child has made it more complex thus dragging the fertility rate down.
5) In India, education is becoming more of a premium thing than the basic need. With even nursery schools asking payment up to Rs. 20, 000 and more per year, education seems to be for privileged only. It’s becoming more and more difficult for parents to educate their children and that too in some good school and college. That’s why current mantra of parent’s is “Less the number of children, more is the probability of educating them properly” thus bringing the fertility rate further down.
6) Also marriage of a daughter is becoming an one-time affair unlike in the past. So people think of making it more valuable and memorable. So “Less the number of children (especially girl) the more the probability of making her marriage more valuable and memorable.” This can also be one of the reason why the fertility rate in India is falling down.
These are some of the reasons of dropping fertility rate in India. Well the dropping fertility rate is really a boon and as people say “Nature takes care of it’s balance”, nature here is taking care of rising population.
Currently India is at 82nd number with rate at 2.72 BPM.
The rival China is at 157th number with rate at 1.79 BPM.
The fertility rate in India has reached to Replacement Rate so I reckon this rate should continue with a slight modification on the negative side.
Judicial Incompetency…
Well, there are umpteenth number of examples to justify the statement I have made above. But sticking to some key cases, I will try to justify the statement that in India, Judicial Services are running on the incompetent track.
The one who whitewashed the whole country in stamp business and earned whopping Rs. 202 Crores daily has got punishment after almost 12 years. The stamp paper fraud took place in 1994 and after that Telgi was sent from one judicial custody to other without getting any punishment. The conviction and subsequent punishment came in January 2006. 17 January 2006 was the date when Abdul Karim Telgi was sentenced for 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
The second punishment came on 28 June 2007 sentencing 13 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of whopping Rs 202 crores.
Even Abdul Karim Telgi was relieved to hear him getting the punishment finally. Even he thanked the judge for punishing him finally.
The question here is what took the courts 12 years to punish Abdul Telgi? Was the case so complicated thats it took the court 12 years to solve the mystery???
2) 1993 Bomb Blast Case.
Same is with “1993 Bomb Blast” case. The link I have provided here clearly says, “though the conviction and result came after 16 years, only the small fishes were caught and fried. The bigger fishes in the game were long long gone“.
This case also took 16 years to solve and to convict the culprits. But these culprits were only pawns in the game. The main King or the Queen are out of the sight.
The same question comes in mind here too. What took them 16 years to convict the culprits? Similar things have happened with Gujarat Riots, Malegaon Bomb Blast and so many other cases.
Reference: The article in http://www.indiatime.com/2009/07/27/1993-bomb-blasts-convictions-continue/ in It’s IndiaTime.
This 25 year old young phony have brought tears in many eyes. But still he is not speaking up and the case is not leading anywhere. He is enjoying the cozy of locker and is being provided with newspapers and other resources. Though it’s being said that he is kept away from any media exposure and is isolated, it was revealed in some trials that he gets to read newspaper daily. Even the ex-police officers have admitted that Kasab gets newspaper to read.
He also demands perfume to clear the air around his jail room. He also demands the money which his Pakistani friend had packed in his rucksack. What is this? Is Ajmal Kasab a celebrity? How can he demand such things and not damned?
But one thing is there. Kasab is just a pawn in this game and the King’s won’t mind him getting eliminated. That is why it is important to get to the root of this case, find and convict the King/Queen of the game. Otherwise the Kasab trial would lead to where the 1993 Bomb Blast case lead. As is mentioned in an article by IndiaTime on 27 July 2009.
Reference: An article http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/crosslines/entry/kasab-trial-or-circus1 by Ranjan Roy.
Fast Track courts – A chaos.
As per the decision of Supreme Court of India, India decided to set up Fast Track courts to clear backlogs and give fast justice. But the primary motive of Fast Track courts seems to be loosing out. Now the government want Fast Track courts out of the scene before they complete their 5 years term. Fast Track courts are now finding it difficult to work because of non-availability of fund. They are starving of funds. And who is responsible for this?
According to a report of Dr. Madabhushi Sridhar, faculty at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, the number of cases pending are alarming. As per figures available on July 5, 2000, the total number of cases pending before the Supreme Court was 21,600 against 1.05 lakhs a decade ago. As for the High Courts, pending cases number 34 lakhs now, against 19 lakhs 10 years ago. The number of cases pending for more than 10 years is 645 in the Supreme Court and 5,00,085 in the High Courts. (According to Frontline, July 07, 2001)
The reason attributed to such an alarming increase in the pending cases is non-filling of vacancies of Judges. Thus fast-track courts are also loosing out on this.
Reference: An article http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/misoj.htm by Dr. Madabhushi Sridhar, Faculty at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
Though various cases are getting forwarded to Fast Track court, i doubt how quick the fast track courts can come to the decision. The Judicial System needs to awake and see the loop holes in the system. And try and figure out the ways to cover those loop holes so in the future an common man won’t be afraid of coming to the court and will be assured that “Courts in India mean JUSTICE“.
“All the delay and lack of accountability and half baked schemes amount to a daily mockery of the fundamental right to speedy trial. The Supreme Court made it clear that “speedy trial is of essence to criminal justice and there can be no doubt that the delay in trial by itself constitutes denial of justice” (Hussainara Khatoon V. State of Bihar AIR 1979 SC 1364).
4G before 3G???
Well guys, there is one surprising news here.
“Intel is thinking of entering in Indian market with 4G”
Yes, Intel is in conversation with some major telecom companies in India like Bharti, Reliance etc. Intel wants minority stakes of these companies and is willing to introduce WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) in India. WiMAX is one of the BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) technology which is in nascent stages in India. Almost all of the US is using WiMAX and 4G technologies and India is not yet decided on 3G.
Isn’t it a shame that even after declaring the introduction of 3G in India since almost 1 and half year, we are still at the “no-where” situation? DoT (Department of Telecom) and Defence Ministry are fighting over the spectrum availability since some months now. Don’t know who is at fault, but its getting stand-still again after some movement. Even if someone goes for RTI (Right to Information) I doubt how revealing that would be.
Currently India is having only 6.5 million broadband subscribers, which is very much below par as compared to the estimated 20 million till 2010. So if the government is not able to bring customers to broadband, what they will be able to do for wireless? The main problem because of which people are reluctant even for broadband, let alone for wireless is, the price tag with which they come. The huge price which the subscriber is asked to pay makes them shy away from the services.
At first the government should clear the mess about 3G and then pave the way for 4G. Because 4G is supposed to be one stage ahead of 3G. So if 4G is made available in India, who will go for 3G? And then the setup for 3G will go in vein.
But the thing is that, 3G and 4G will be very costly for general public and hence won’t gain momentum till the government makes in usable to common public.
Entrepreneurship on the rise in India and China
On the backdrop of Global Recession, Indian and Chinese people have scored a bit more in entrepreneurial market. Previously asleep tigers and dragons are awakening now.
The entrepreneurship have been on the rise since 2008 only, but the recession has provided an excellent platform for the budding entrepreneurs. As jobs are shrinking, more and more people are thinking of setting up their own start-ups.
The link above gives a fair amount of idea as to why and how the entrepreneurship is on the rise. The website of Harvard Business School is good in providing such information. The site is named as Working Knowledge by HBS.
Identity Crisis…
Really a huge problem in front of we people right now. What’s your real identity? Do you know the real thing about yourself? Does your close ones know the real identity of yours?
There are umpteenth number of occasions when we suffer of this “Identity Crisis”. Do you get anything in your head burning? Can you think of a situation that has happened in your life where you felt the Identity Crisis?
Well, how about following example?
Suppose you are out of your house and someone who looks exactly the same with similar habits and behavior comes in your home. Some time after you come back and see yourself sitting in the couch. Upon questioning his origin and authenticity he cross-questions you asking the same things and you feel how am I gonna prove my closed ones that I am the real person and this one is fake?
Does your parents know something special about yourself that the others may not know. Because when such person tries to infiltrate your family life, they come well prepared and you better pull your socks up and think what’s unique about you and yes, your family should know about this uniqueness.
Well, the situation may seem filmy here, but let me tell you that however filmy such things happen in our lives. These occasions may not be the exact replica of what I have portrayed above, but the gist is the same. The story holds it’s plot though the characters differ.
When we fail somewhere down the line, make some mistake at some point or don’t get what we deserve, we sit dejected and lonesome. That time this “Identity Crisis” peeks its head up. You start thinking
a) Who am I?
b) What’s my identity?
c) What’s my forte?
These questions coming in our mind indicates the “Identity Crisis”. This thing happens with each and everyone. And the need of knowing some unique characteristics of yourself come handy at this point. The relatives or family in the consideration will be your mind and yourself will ultimately depict your body.
So in such an emergency, your mind should know what’s that uniqueness that will distinguish between you and your dummy. So always keep in mind
a) Who am I?
b) What’s my identity, and
c) What’s my forte?
before falling prey to “Identity Crisis”.
Ganges clean by 2020, a proposal by NGRBA India…
Project: Cleaning of river Ganga by 2020
Project Inception: Still in the nascent stage.
Project planned: In October 2009
Project Cost estimated: Rs. 250 crore.
Project Deadline: By 2020
Further process: A plan will be devised for cleaning the Ganga and will be presented by NGRBA.
Yes, the river Ganga is about to get clean and purified or rather Industrial wastes will not be left in Ganga anymore after 2020. But I don’t know why so late onto deciding such a critical issue? I have some doubts and questions to be asked and those are as follows:
a) Why government waited for this long considering the fact that sewage disposal and treatment plant requires 10 years to come into existense? Ganga was polluted before also. Ganga is victim of pollution and waste disposal since long time, then why government waited for this long to form National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) for solving Ganga pollution problem.
b) Now NGRBA has asked central government to provide them with 1000 MW of FREE power (electricity), why? You have necessary funds at your disposal. Moreover if you (NGRBA) fall short of some cash you can always raise the funds from market by floating an IPO or simply some relief fund kind of thing. As Ganga is our National River (which has been declared in LAST November, thats Nov 2008, I mean what took them so long to declare that and take some action on keeping Ganga clean or for that matter every river clean?) You should not be asking central government for any freebies.
c) This proposal of cleaning Ganga off wastage and pollution is good, but this proposal should go much deeper than only Ganga. Every Indian river is ailing with pollution and wastage problem. When Government is planning to clean every river? India is facing a very serious problem of water shortage in almost every city. Considering the fact that our rivers are more nullahs than rivers and carry more waste than water, it needs huge investment to purify that water and supply for domestic use. So why not clean them and use them as resources for providing water to every city and town in the country? Government should undertake that project also as soon as possible.
d) No doubt, better late than never, Government has woke up to the fact that Indian rivers are getting polluted. But as we all know that Indian Government is inefficient of executing anything, it will be interesting and important to see for how long the NGRBA works in line for Ganga cleaning. It will be better if Government really follows the proposal to the exact deadlines, unlike what’s happening in Delhi prior to CommonWealth Youth Games 2010.
Austerity and Indian politics…
Today’s Indian Express says Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar has said that austerity by a politician should be a voluntary gesture. Well, I as a citizen of India want to question this statement made by honorary Lok Sabha Speaker.
-> Does flying with economy class brings down your prestige and social status?
-> Does travelling by an ambassador or any government assigned vehicle harms your status?
-> Does paying electricity and phone bills harm your status?
I guess every politician will answer yes to these questions, as they are not habituated to live big and work less. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are held so as to solve the problems faced by the country and state. But the picture there is pretty different. At first place MPs don’t attend the parliamentary sessions, and use the highly costly and worldly pleasures offered at these places. If you don’t want to work there, don’t become a MP. MPs fight in the parliament like they are in a school. Are you paid to do this? Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha expenditure is done through the revenue generated from people. So MPs should note this thing and don’t pretend to be spending their own money on this.
Another issue is, what’s the harm in flying economy class? According to Lok Sabha speaker this issue should be left to the politicians. I bet no politician will fly economy class if left on his/her own. The ticket expenditure on every politician is through public revenue and taxes. So why waste in such a foolish way?
New MPs like Azaruddin and Shatrugna Sinha are demanding bigger and larger homes. What’s your status man? You are just a new born kid in the Lok and Rajya Sabha. Then why demand such foolish thing? Before becoming MP weren’t you living in the same place? So what’s wrong in living there after becoming MP? If a boy or girl of age 8 is demanding to be placed in class 10, can we do that? A person gets whatever he has got according to his abilities. So better leave demanding big things. At first do some good work and then demand.
MPs like Shashi Tharoor sorry Shashi (GYM)oor wants his own gym and privacy. If you want privacy build your own gym at the place you live and maintain your privacy. Aamir Khan also has his own gym, go his way. Why to live in seven star hotels and that too in Presidential suit? Who’s money you are spending there? I bet you are not spending your own money there. And if you are spending your own money, give Indian citizens the source of such huge money. Same applies for S.M. Krishna also.
Hon. Mayawati ji also built so many statues. Who’s money you are spending madam? Why nobody questions them? Banks and courts screw common man for not paying debt and spending more than what he got. Income Tax department raids common man’s home only, if seen some inconsistency in the income pattern. But then why not raid a politicians house and take action after that?
These things are really maddening. I don’t see a solution to it, until politicians follow the austerity suit. Freedom Fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, Lal Bahadur Shastri and many more, had also lived an austere life. Mahatma Gandhi left wearing full cloths because people were not having anything to wear. Lal Bahadur Shastri left eating rice because common public was not getting rice to it. Why did these people have done this? Because they followed austerity and that’s why they live thousands of years in the minds of public and in History. Today’s politician’s life is very miserable, because they have done this to themselves. These politicians will only be on the paper of history books but won’t be in anybody’s mind. Once they step down from the throne they won’t be counted also. Mind it.

















