Why We Need 2nd Independence and Who Will Get Us That?

India is still not independent. I still call it under rule! This time it is not Moguls, nor Britishers. It is under seize and rulers are we Indian ourselves. The characteristics of our rulers who continue to exploit the common masses are:

1. They are not foreigners, hence look very much like common Indians. Of course, they will wear ties and suits (which are of no relevance at Indian soil where temperatures soar to 40s and 50s. Or, they just wear white kurta pajama and shamelessly denigrate Gandhi ji.

2. Political leadership: They are either elected by voters in polls where voters have limited options ( have no choice to reject them). In the electoral process that we have, these candidates exercise all means to get elected: by hook or crook. The parties have more or less no ideology. The only standard they look up to is victory. Once we keep our political affiliation aside, we will realize that they just want to come into power, means are not important, end is what they are targeting at.

3. Bureaucracy: The babus are selected by merit or by bribery. Either way, the end result is same for the most: educated and intellectual class they constitute, but sooner than later, become self-serving. They are the guardians of rules, but let the political class bend them instead of confronting them. They are eager to become appease their bosses, start focussing on promotions and filling their own coffers and wallets.
Tell me honestly, why there is so much craze among Indian families to see their wards become IAS, IPS officers and SDMs? To serve the country: no, that is not the first reason. If my son becomes an IAS, IPS: kothi, gaddi, naukar, fat dowry and life long aaraam! These are the considerations thta we aim for.
It is a common knowledge that in HCS (Harayana Civil Service), the seats are for sale. If I have to pay 20 lakhs for my son to become an HCS officer, shall he serve the state: it is easy to guess the answer.

4. Police: Unrestrained is the best term for pur police forces. The training does not translate in this simple message: you are here to bring culprit to the book.Instead what happens is: bullying commoners, extracting money and distorting evidence to their suitability. In UP, recently we came across the news of a 6 year old girl beaten mercilessly by police at the police station. That one incidence is not an exception. It represents the real mindset of our police forces.

5. Judiciary: Slow and lethargic. Jutstice delayed is justice denied. Corruption at lower level is well known.

6. Media: Has not matured into a socially responsible media. The lust for making money has made distanced it from reality. Do we know of any code of conduct that the media seem to follow. The unashamed beaming of Mumbai terrorist events has exposed the real character of our media. This does not mean there is dearth of professional journalists in our country. But the lack of self-regulation, ethics has driven the current media into a bazaar.

7. Public: Feels helpless. Has resigned to the fate of bribery, corruption, nepotism. Over-populated hence every chore seems to be a competition. So, what we have become: aapna ghar pahle, samaaj baad mein. Self-conceited, self- centered we have become. Do not take me wrong, majority of people still want to live with conscience, but the monster of unregulated democracy seems unsurmountable, hence selfishness is the first trait that creeps in.
Those who are away from the country (Indians abroad): they too seem to be wary of the the way our Indian system works. As one of my friends Dr Vidya put it: }The charity in India is highly unregulated, no one knows where your hard-earned money will go! If you donate here (USA), you know that where your money is being used."

So, what are the solutions?

The fight against foreigners was not easy, but it was easier to define an enemy, a looter! It was easy to descriptively conclude who our enemy was: The one who invaded us. It made sense to the people!
Today, the enemy is from within us. That is a big problem! It is not easy to convince all that what is wrong, who is doing wrong to us.
The good news is that we are not at the mercy of some individuals (Kings or queens or senators or MPs sitting in a different country in a buidling - call it Parliament- and decide our fate by their whims or whishes). But the democracy that was bestowed upon us almost 6 decades ago has not been able to fulfil our needs. It did not bring in corrections and fixes as the time passed on" rather the changes were not incorporated by our political leadership!

1. Hence our democracy needs updates. Bring in the needed reforms to make our system really workable. Not just toothless democracy.

2. We must- each must- think what we are doing for our society and nation. We need patriotic individuals who are there to serve and not extract. To be patriotic, we do not have to wear a Gandhi cap, or leave our job or business! To do the things with sincerity and conscience: that alone will help us a long way.

Food for the Brain

"There is one principle that will keep mankind in ignorance forever, and that is contempt prior to investigation".
This applies most aptly to the religion.

Mindset And Attitude!

My parents live in Faridabad. The whole of North India is reeling under heat. Yesterday I called them and my sister who is visiting from Nagpur was also there. I asked them that they might be able to ward off the heat with air-conditions. She replied that for at least 8 hours a day there is no electricity and that balances out everything. The inverters are hardly able to charge!

My friend Vijay from Faridabad sent me an email and told me while we were talking on the phone that to send that email, he had to restart his PC 3 times. Sometimes electricity is not there, sometimes the voltage is so low that you cannot work effectively on PC. He was replying to my complaint as to why we were not able to chat on internet!

My young son (along with family) has just reached New Delhi from NY and I was curious to know whether the Air India flight bound for N Delhi (via London) was in time. Sitting here in NY, I googled to find IGI Airport website. The website is a shame if we compare web-sites of other air-ports, like JFK, O'hare and Heathrow. The web-site doesnot let you see the status of flights, though it does provide schedules. In the menu, 'Contact Us' provides no telephne numebr. Typical Indian mentality or "chalta hai" attitude".

I know it is easy to criticize the things, particularly sitting far away. But I feel while we talk of rising India, we must realize that the qualitative differences that exist are difficult to fill.

Stem Cell Research: Bush vetoes it again

Toda's news tells us that the US President Bush has once again vetoed the Stem Cell Bill, thereby blocking the new federal funding for stem cell research. This effectively means that scientists will continue to feel handicapped in fully researching the potentials of stem cell. As we know, stem cell research has the potential to cure many seemingly incurable diseases. It can be revolutionary.

By doing so, the Republican President has put his beliefs (conservative) before science, and has tried to mix science with religious beliefs. But the fact remains that science remains in relentless pursuit of truth and thus one can not suppress it. One can try to defer the things in the name of religion (and religion is at best a man-made thing), but how long will you suppress the truth!

Stem cell will one day truimph and give the much-needed succor to the humanity.

The Namesake

Last week, we took some time off to see Mira Nair's newly released movie "The Namesake" in one of the Long Island's far eastern Seaford Theatre. It was a late night show and the gathering was really small (considering the fact that desis donot live in large numbers in that area)!
Based upon Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, this movie depicts the typical theme of confusion which continues to besiege an Indian (family) in a foreign land even after decades of adopting the new land! Old wine in a new bottle, but keeps you engrossed!

Global Warming: A Global Warning!

The concept of global warming has crossed the technical corridors and is gaining a wider acceptance in the public. I am sure humans all over the globe are becoming aware of this phenomenon, even if not in a technical language.
The concept of carbon emmission is linked to global warming. The developing nations -even though they are already very 'clean' environmentally- are pushing for the harder measures to tackle this concept. They seem to have a vision as to what is happening with our Mother Nature.
On the other hand, developing nations seem woefully ignorant of the harm they are causing to the environment. Being from India and living in USA, I can fully understand this atleast what it seems to be on a gross examination. Our India- now under the seize of economic liberalization - is busting at the full pace! The "sleeping elephant"- as the western media so fondly likes to describe it- is waking to its full realization, but with scant regard to environment. We have - I must admit it with great pain- become mute spectators towards the increasing degradation of our environment. Even if people realize it, there does not seem to be any effective policy to arrest this. There is no political will to take some concrete action to save our environment, but are happily basking in the glory of our expanding economy! This is evident by the rolly polly regulations regarding housing construction, traffic and pollution control, industrialization and so on. The lop-sided development of the country has ensured that villagers continue to run towards cities and citi-dwellers are running towards bigger cities; the final destination seems to be our metropolitan cities. This goes without saying that the rapid uncontrolled urbanization without any proper planning is having a disastrous impact on our nation.

On a closer scrutiny, the question is: who is causing more carbon emmission: the seemingly cleaner looking but heavily industrialized developed nations or less industrialized but 'choatic looking' developing nations? While I need more info on this, it seems the "Ultimate Truth" lies in tackling this danger in a combined way. The issue aroused my curosity even further when I read the news about India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating in the ongoing G-8 Summit in Germany that ''due care must be taken not to allow growth and development of developing countries to be undermined while dealing with climate protection..". But who is preventing the developing nations like us to implement tighter regulations so that we have a more regulated civic growth! If we are totally hapless to regulate our choatic urbanization, pollution and behaving like greedy citizens hell bent upon just focussing to make our own nests at the cost of our environment, why blame this on developed nations.

All measures are bound to meet unsuccess if the portion of globe where probably 1/3 of the humanity lives, does not awaken to the harsh realities of the Global Warming: yes, India and China must cleanse their land, their polluted rivers and lakes and 'purify' the smoke-ladden air if the Mother Earth wants not to suffocate in the decades to come. And it is no easy a task! I close my post with this saying by Thomas Huxley: "It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance."

Medical Museums

Bharti - my wife- suggested that a medical museum is a useful place to visit. I added : particularly hospitals should have this in their campuses. This was while we were visiting NCMA (Nassau County Arts Museum) in long Island a couple of weeks back.

Blogging in Hindi/ ब्लोग्गिंग हिंदी में

Now you can blog in Hindi language too. Google has made this possible. This is a revolutionary step. When I am doing this, I find it pretty simple to do. I understand that more and more people will be be able to connect with the world of internet now.

Hats off to Google for this effort!

आप हिंदी मे भी अब ब्लोग बना सकते हैं। यह सुविधा गूगल ने उपलब्ध करवा दी है। यह एक क्रन्तिकारिक कदम है। जब में टाईप कर रहा हूँ तो यह बिल्कुल साधारण बात लग रही है। मैं समझता हूँ कि इससे आधिक से आधिक लोग इन्टरनेट से जुडेंगे।
गूगल को इस पर्यास के लिए हार्दिक अभिनन्दन।

Vinoba Bhave

Vinoba Bhave - the famous Gandhian and Sarvodya leader- better known as a Bhudaan leader was featured on Time magazine in 1953 and a cover story was dedicated to him। I happened to see this while picture surfing about him on internet.

Acharya (spiritual leader) Bhave was one of the tall social leaders who tried to emulate Gandhian philosophy after Indian independence and bring about social reforms, Bhu-daan and Gram-daan being the most famous. Though his support to Indira Gandhi's imposition of Emergency in 1977 - made him a center of controversy. It may be noted that he termed the Emergency as 'anushashan parva' ( a period of discipline), while it clearly was a dark period in the independent democratic India. Nevertheless, Vinoba Bhave was a man of vision and his land reforms were a big start and lent him international reputation. Individuals like Acharya Bhave and Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (famously known as JP) have proved that Gandhi- inspired initiatives based upon the principles of truth and non-violence are still relevant.

His Pawnar (or Paunar) Ashram located near Wardha and Sewagram - in central parts of India- continue to carry on his legacy and philosophy. I happened to visit the Ashram many a time while I was a med student at MGIMS (Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences), Sewagram, Wardha.

Reservation Must Go !

The caste-based reseravtion or caste based quota system in India is a constant cause of social conflict. The Hindu society continues to be divided over it and agitations have resulted from time to time. Under the reservation policy, 'so-called' lower catse Hindus get reservations in jobs, and educational institutes and 'so-called ' upper caste Hindus collectively compete for open seats or general quota for admissions and jobs ( I use the term ' so-called' beacuse I am against the caste system. Caste system is a bane for the Hindu and Indian society). Thus, this policy of reservation is against the spirit of open competition and free market. This reservation policy was included in our Constitution so as to provide opportunities to lower caste Hindus to uplift themselves. This policy was to be re-vised in 1990s, but the Parliament instead of taking steps to abolish or efface it, has continued it. Among our political establishment, who has the spine to touch a sensitive issue such as this!

The reservation in last 60 years of our independence has not solved the problems it was intended to: Those who became benefitted by it, they (only a few percentage of lower catse people) continue to enjoy the benefits and it has not 'transcended' uniformly over the target group to benefit them. At the same time, it has continued to build up resentment in the upper class youth as many of them despite having required qualifications have not been able to get admissions or jobs because many a seat were 'usurped' by reserved class! Therefore, reservation system has not actually been able to produce an equitable society and the currrent trends of reservation are unlikely to even if it is continued for another 100 years!

I am of the resolute opinion that reservation system must go as it creates a divisive society and is against the spirit of free competition. Reservation must be effaced out gradually, but must be supplemented with a sense of social responsibilty. If we try to efface reservation without the element of social justice, it will serve no purpose and will give rise to another set of social problems.

I suggest following measures which will help us get rid of reservation system while not disturbing the balances of the society.

1. Government must announce that reservation system will be gradually scrapped off over a period of say, 30 years.

2. Identify families of lower catse Hindus: Each family will be given reservation for one or two times only: either in the job or admission into a acadmic instiute. once that benefit has been given, the family will no longer be able to enjoy the fruit of reservation. This also implies that all reservations for promotions in the jobs and admission for higher studies will be scrapped immediately.

3. Identify citizens on the basis of economic status (irrespective of caste and creed or religion) and provide economically backward citizens better opportunities for education and health.

These are oft-repeated measures which are nothing new. They are good measures, but to make them socially more justifable, I have a few more suggestuons:

4. Each so-called upper caste Hindu is urged to take up/adopt the case of one lower caste Hindu: For example adopt one kid for his upbringing until he or she is meaningfully employed or settled in life. This is what upper castes owe to lower castes who have been exploited for generations. This measure will result in less hostilities and more social harmony when we think of long-term plan of abolishing reservations.

5. On a long term plan, encourage inter-caste marriages and inter-state 'socialization' (encourage taking jobs at distant places, moving for distant places): this will result in a broader vision and outlook towards the society and the nation. This helps us coming out of our ghetto mentality! We suffer badly from caste and 'biradri' (community) affinities and this hinders us from looking towards the open skies with open minds.

6. And as Avinash Yadav has suggested in his write-up, "(eradication of reservation) could be easily done if we drop our surnames". For a link to his write- up, click . Or start using surnames in a way that they loose their identifications.

Another pleasant result of abolishing reservation system will be that our Christian and muslim brothers will drop the demands of reservations for them. It will become much more difficult for the casteist and pseudo-secular politicians to inflame the passions of reservations in our so-called 'minorities' (is it not ludicrous that in a secular country we divide citizens as majority or minority based upon the religion!). Is not it il-logical that first our dalits are lured into Christianity -by the ambassadors of social upliftment- saying that they will be liberated form the stigma of being low-castes and then the same ambassadors cry hoarse to provide reservations to 'Dalit Christians' !!

While the then Prime Minister VP Singh unleashed the poison of "Mandalization" over the Indian society, it is time to do the things right way: 'Empower' the Dalits to liberate them from the shackles of 'reservation' !

Change My City's name: Faridabad to Fule Nagar or any other

What is in a name? A lot! It tells you about your heritage and your past. Unfortunately, in my case, it is a burden which I have been carrying for years and many people of my town will agree with me. I belong to a town which is well known in India. I am from a town called Faridabad, about 16 miles (25 KM) from the Capital of India, New Delhi. It comes under Haryana state and is the industrial hub of Haryana with a polpulation of 1.5 million. It is home to people from all over the nation. The tragedy is that its name is neither symbolic of its cultural heritage ,nor of its aspirations. As the history shows, the name was given to us by one of the administrator of the Mohguls who invaded our country and ruled over it.

The official web-site of Faridabad administration (here is the link) tells us about the origin of the name:
"Faridabad was founded in A.D. 1607 by Shaikh Farid, treasurer of Jahangir, with the object of protecting the highway which passed through the town. Shaikh Farid built a fort, a tank and a mosque which are in runins. Later, it becomes the headquaters of a pargana which was held in jagir by the Ballabgarh ruler. Faridabad became 12th District of Haryana State on 15th August, 1979. Faridabad is about 25 Kilometers from Delhi..."

They have since gone, but the name persists! Majority of people from Faridabad may actually not be even aware of the origin of this name! But the name carries on!

I urge upon the people of Faridabad, its elected representatives to consider changing this name to a more of Indian name so that the ghost of Moghul rule does not persist with us! I want to get rid of a name which reflects of a ruler or history which was a dark period for us. Why not give a name which symbolizes our own culture, for example: Mahtama Fule nagar, Shivaji Nagar (who fought Moghuls), Vivekanand Nagar, or just any other name!

In the next assembly elections, there should be a referendum and thus voters of faridabad can decide about this issue. This is a pretty democratic way of dealing with this issue.

Types of Love: Philos Love

Feb 8: while I was driving back to home from my work (after a hectic night call while caring for neonates), I happened to listen to Christopher Phillips on Brian Lehrer show at NPR (National Public Radio, New York). Christopher is considered what we call "public philosophers" (for details visit http://www.philosopher.org). His 'Socrates Cafe' is a way of going to public and generating 'democratic communities of philospohical inquiries'.

He describes 5 types of love:
1. Eros Love (erotic love) 2. Philos Love 3. Family love 4. Agape love (unconditional love) 5. Xaneo Love ( I hope I heard the right word!): love for strangers.

Coming to Philos love which means 'friendship love'. Love for country is also included under this category. Now in today's world- which is fast loosing its boundaries in the era of electronic communication- there are also increasing polarizations! Taken in that context, love for country has two sub-sets: a] Compassionate love: where the citizen is cognizant of the fact that his/her actions (and thus the country's) will impact the world outside! b] Xenophobic patriotism: "we are the best and other (countries) are hostile to us" kind of attitude! This is of course not a desirable kind of love!
Love for country is also manifested in many way. Do not think that our rabble rouser politicians who cry hoarse on public platforms are the only people who love the country! Many people love their motherland yet may feel kind of uncomfortable feeling passionate about it (so called silent lovers!).

Christopher says that xaneo love is little understood and often less talked! This means love for strangers (xenophobia is hate for people/strangers). Do not we many times feel compassionate about someone whom we do not know much and have met him/her very little! Christopher cites an example of a family in a border town in Arizona (which borders Mexico). This family- who have a big farm- have a tradition of having an extra plate at dinner table for a stranger. It has so happened with them that they have often been visited by strangers who having crossed into their country from Mexico have knocked at their doors in desperate times!

This reminds me of a story which I have read in Hindi literature. In a village ,there used to live an old couple who were very poor. But their doors were always open for the people! Once in a night time, a stranger knocks at their door and asks if he could stay at their home overnight as he had lost his way and could not reach the destination in time. The poor man welcomes him, but is perplexed as to how to serve his guest because the food which they had prepared for the dinner was hardly sufficient for two. The couple serve the food to his his guest first and go to bed without eating!
In the morning when this guest leaves, he offers them a small utensil as a gift. It so happens that the old lady cooks the food in this utensil later on and so discovers that as soon as she empties the container it fills up again! Thus they realize that God himself had visited their home the previous night and had awarded this gift to them!

Justice in our country

Prof R K Gupta (email ID: cityju@rediffmail.com) writes:

The fun of law in Courts and violations

What is going on in Delhi is pure mockery of law and logic.First
the Supreme court orders sealing of buldings violating master plan
and urban land use laws which are based on certain well defined
principles of urbanisation. People who stay in these violated
colonies and who are law abiding did buy such plots believing that
it is a residential area.Unscrupulous elements bought such
residential properties and converted these for business.No where
in civilised countries this can be seen or is permitted.
The government and bureaucrats who first helped such encroachments
laughed in face of court and Constitution by drafting a new Master
plan and changed original land use.Thus by back door they made
mockery of lacs of law abiding residents of Delhi and of
Constitution of India and the well defined system of urban
planning.
The helpless court exonerated them and stayed proceedings.
Is it not a joke and fun which a court and government babus and
politicians are playing with people ,morality and ethics?
Why people should be allowed to use residential plots for
business? It is not only a nuisance and pollution but has also
inflated property prices thus making it beyond reach of common
citizen.It is sheer disgusting that a residential plot of small
size should cost Rs 50 lacs or 1 crore for making a 2 bed room
house in Delhi,where per capita income is under Rs 80,000 per
year.Who can afford this except corrupt businessmen and
politicians? For whom master plan is changed.
This nonsense and fun with people of India must stop
immediately. Supreme court should act firmly and convict all
violaters of urban laws and also those inspectors in whose
jurisdiction houses were converted.Huge penalties running into
lacs should be put on each violater.
It is not at all logical that government draws out a plan to
circumvent law and allow violations in name of new Master plan.New
plan should impropve the things and not regularise past defaults
and crimes.I would urge Supreme court to stick to norms of urban
planning and disallow all past violations,with firm hand.
Law has to act firmly in letter and spirit both.
Tomorrow if these corrupt government will show a temple area for
toilet use in a so called new plan would court or citizens allow
this?
The principles are very clear- No commercial activities should be
allowed in residential colonies, particularly in those plots which
were meant for housing.
There is always a small provision made for essential shops and
welfare centres in all colonies.
Markets should be separately planned.
In fact Supreme court will be encouraging encroachments and wrong
acts by retrospectively allowing criminal acts of a large number
of greedy shop keepers,estate developers and businessmen.
It is these same people who opposed implementation of Model rent
control act in Delhi so they could keep occupying shops and houses
of helpless people at ridiculously outdated and miniscule rents
which also they don't pay.
To give rights and protection to some one you do injustice with
other.What kind is this law?
This is another reason why huge property available is not released
for rental at reasonable prices as people fear to rent out due to
blackmail and refusal to vacate by tenants.And our absurd,idiotic
and slow paced judicial system and procedures don't pass orders
for decades.Even if these are pased no one obeys it and they
helplessly look away.Is it not a judicial fraud going on in country
as such huge expenditure and wastage of time,money and health of
litigants?
We are not only a corrupt society but a wily and greedy unethical
lot ! It is sad that courts also play tune to such acts!

Kashmir issue

In this article published in The Pioneer, G Parthasarthy- an ex-diplomat and ex-ambassador to Pakistan- analyses Kashmir situation.

Stop pandering to separatists
-- G. Parthasarathy

The Manmohan Singh Government appears to believe that
separatists, armed, financed and trained across our
borders, can be won over by a policy of appeasement.
This was evident in the approach to ULFA in Assam,
which was let off the hook by an ill-advised ceasefire
when the Army had its cadre on the run. There is a
similar approach to the separatists of the "moderate"
All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Jammu & Kashmir.

The All Parties Hurriyat Conference was established on
March 10, 1993, with Pakistani support, to give
political content to a demoralised and failing armed
uprising in Jammu & Kashmir. The Hurriyat leadership
supports Pakistan's efforts to pursue its "unfinished
agenda of Partition" in Jammu & Kashmir. Its
Constitution, adopted in March 1993, says the Hurriyat
is committed to a "peaceful struggle" to obtain the
"right to self-determination" under UN Resolutions for
the people of Jammu & Kashmir.

Members of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference have
remained close to terrorist groups that are members of
the ISI-sponsored United Jihad Council in
Muzaffarabad. If Syed Ali Shah Geelani uses the
Hizb-ul Mujahideen to enforce his writ through
terrorist violence, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is familiar
with Al Umar Mujahideen led by Mushtaq Zargar - a
serial killer released during the infamous Kandahar
hijacking. The Hurriyat Conference is derogatorily
referred to as the "Hartal Conference" because, duly
backed by the guns of terrorists, it regularly calls
for hartals and bandhs.

The Hurriyat, which describes itself the "sole" and
"authentic" voice of the aspirations of the people of
Jammu & Kashmir, has primarily served as the
mouthpiece for the Pakistan Government and as the
political arm of the terrorists sponsored by ISI.
Pakistan has obtained an "Observer" status for the
Hurriyat in the Organisation of Islamic Conference,
providing the Hurriyat leadership access to leaders of
Islamic countries. Knowing its limited electoral
support and given the disunity in its ranks, the
Hurriyat has never contested elections.

Apologists of the Hurriyat claim that the organisation
split, with the Mirwaiz leading the "moderates" and
Geelani the "hardliners" because of differences over
their responses to Gen Pervez Musharraf's four-point
proposal on Jammu & Kashmir. The real reasons for the
split, however, lie in developments in Pakistan when
Gen Musharraf and Amir of the Jamat-e-Islami Qazi
Hussain Ahmed fell apart. Geelani toed the line
advocated by the Qazi, who opposed Gen Musharraf's
proposals. While the General has been the mentor of
the "moderates" led by the Mirwaiz, Geelani has chosen
to regard the Qazi as his mentor. The main "threat"
that the Mirwaiz faces is from the cadre of the
Hizb-ul Mujahideen in Muzaffarabad.

When Mirwaiz Farooq left for Islamabad, he assumed
pretensions of being the "bridge" between New Delhi
and Islamabad and also between people in Jammu &
Kashmir on both sides of the LoC. He echoed Gen
Musharraf's proposals and let the cat out of the bag
by revealing that these proposals were for an
"interim" and not "final" resolution of the issue of
Jammu & Kashmir. He was evidently advised by Gen
Musharraf to set the stage for a "ceasefire" in Jammu
& Kashmir by calling on the militants to end their
armed struggle. Those in Pakistan backing Qazi Hussain
Ahmad's approach called Mirwaiz a "traitor" and the
"Hamid Karzai of Kashmir". Feeling the political heat,
Pakistan's Foreign Office distanced itself from the
Mirwaiz, claiming that what he had said constituted
his personal views and not the views of the Pakistan
Government.

Desperate to avoid the wrath of the jihadis who could
threaten his life, the Mirwaiz met Mushtaq Zargar -
the one terrorist leader on whom he could rely. This
could not have happened without ISI facilitation, as
Pakistan has officially claimed that it is not aware
of Zargar's whereabouts. At this meeting, he also met
"area commanders" of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and the
Jaish-e-Mohammed - terrorist organisations banned
internationally under UN Security Council Resolution
1373. Mirwaiz Farooq has remained ambiguous about
these meetings; he, however, did not deny they took
place. Thus, despite Gen Musharraf's protestations, it
is obvious that the infrastructure of terrorism is
alive and kicking in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)
and that the ISI is actively assisting these terrorist
outfits.

The Hurriyat delegation met political leaders in PoK,
but avoided meeting with leaders from the
Shia-dominated Northern Areas as they would have
spoken differently about the repression they face. The
Mirwaiz also assumed the role of organising meetings
between political leaders in Jammu & Kashmir and those
in PoK, after his meeting with Sardar Atique Ahmad
Khan the "Prime Minister" of PoK. All such meetings
will inevitably be under the patronage of the
Government of Pakistan and the ISI. Gen Musharraf
obviously wishes to use his protégés to play the
leading role in promoting an intra-Kashmiri dialogue,
which can then proceed on terms set by him. New Delhi
seems to have given the impression that it would not
be averse to the All Parties Hurriyat Conference
playing such a role.

While the leaders of mainstream political parties like
the National Conference have watched from the
sidelines, the Hurriyat has assumed such airs of
importance that it will not condescend to meet anyone
other than the Prime Minister. The Hurriyat has to be
formally told that before it seeks political level
meetings, it should first seek to interact with the
Union Government's interlocutor for Jammu & Kashmir,
Mr NN Vohra. Second, it should be made clear to the
Hurriyat that there can be no high-level political
contacts in New Delhi till it participates in the
roundtable discussion that has been initiated by the
Prime Minister with a wide cross-section of political
and public opinion in Jammu & Kashmir.

New Delhi should also firmly inform the Hurriyat
leadership that it will not allow the separatists to
assume any role in inviting people like Sardar Atique
Ahmad and other political leaders from PoK and the
Northern Areas across the LoC. This is a role that has
to be played at an appropriate time by the Chief
Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, in consultation with
political leaders in the State Assembly, with due
clearance from the Union Government.

Finally, there can be no question of any "ceasefire"
in Jammu & Kashmir till the infrastructure of
terrorism across the LoC is dismantled and militants
who have crossed the border lay down their arms. The
nation paid a heavy price for the ill-advised "Ramzan
Ceasefire" in November 2000.

Sins of Vote bank Politics

In this article, Jagmohan analyses the consequences of vote bank politics vis-a-vis Assam. This article was published in The Statesman this week.

Carnage in Assam- part II
Paying For The Sins Of Vote-Bank Politics

By Jagmohan
Exasperated by the attitude of the Central and the state governments, a writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court by Sarbananda Sonowal, former president of All Assam Students Union, challenging the validity of the IMDT Act. In its order of 15 July 2005, the court declared the Act unconstitutional.
What is no less significant than the declaration of unconstitutionality of the IMDT Act is what the Supreme Court said about the motivation of the framers of this law and also about the attitude of the Central government to the problems of internal security. The court noted: “How one-sided the provisions of the IMDT Act are. They have been so made that they only result in giving advantage and benefits to an illegal migrant and not for achieving the real objective of the enactment, namely, of detection and deportation of a Bangladeshi national who has illegally crossed the border on or after 25 March 1971. It was underlined: “Though inquiries were initiated in 310,759 cases under the IMDT Act but out of this only 10,015 persons were declared as illegal migrants and finally only 1,481 illegal migrants were physically expelled up to 30 April 2000. This comes to less than half per cent of the cases initiated.”

Alternative route

Drawing attention to the hard facts in the knowledge of the Central government, the court lamented: “The disinclination of the government, for political reasons, to wholeheartedly embark upon identification and deportation of Bangladeshis from Assam.” The court also directed that all cases relating to illegal “migrants should be decided in the manner provided in the Foreigners Act. Even after the clear ruling and direction of the Supreme Court, the nihilist and negative forces refused to change their ways. They proceeded to carve out an alternative route to serve their ends of power. Through a devious act of subordinate legislation, the Central government amended the Rules under the Foreigners Act, and virtually introduced the same procedures of detection, declaration and deportation as were laid down under the IMDT Act.
The above amendments were also challenged by Sarbananda Sonowal through another writ petition. In its judgment, given on 5 December 2006, the Supreme Court not only declared these amendments as “unreasonable, arbitrary and invalid” but also left no one in any doubt how poorly it thought of the intentions of the Central government. It observed: “Though we would normally desist from commenting, when the security of the nation is the issue as highlighted in Sonowal I, we have to say that the bonafides of the action leaves something to be desired.”
The court’s observations, though polite, are pertinent and point to the depth to which our vote-bank politics could descend. For our brand of democracy, petty ends of power and short-term gains and more important than the security of the nation and its long-term well-being. The management of about 4,000-km-long porous border with Bangladesh, which has a vast riverine area in the West and a hilly terrain on the North-east and East and has as many as 162 enclaves, is, undoubtedly, difficult. But it is largely the impaired national vision, selfish politics, exploitative democracy and division-prone social structure that has resulted in the emergence of a huge vicious circle of inter-connected problems.
During all these intervening periods, the Ulfa had tasted blood, accumulated huge funds and weapons, changed its stance with insistence on having a sovereign Assam, and even established friendly contacts with the ISI of Pakistan and Bangladeshi forces hostile to India. It also used the period of ceasefire and negotiations through interlocutors to regroup and strengthen itself. Now a situation has emerged in which a parallel economy, rooted in terrorism and subversion, has come to stay. A potent network of extortion, intimidation and protection-money now operates at the ground level. It is placing a substantial portion of central and state government’s funds in the hands of the militants.
The continuing infiltration of Bangladeshis in Assam and the vote-bank politics that is associated with it have already resulted in the emergence of several political outfits with pronounced communal and parochial tilt. These outfits include the Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam, Muslim United Liberation Tigers, Liberation Islamic Tiger Force, Muslim Volunteer Force, Student Islamic Movement of India and the Islamic Liberation Army. The cross-border contacts of the extremist elements within these organisations with the fundamentalist political parties in Bangladesh have the potential of further undermining the peace and integrity of Assam and other parts of India.
Of late, Bangladesh has become a cocoon of terrorism and beehive of fundamentalist organisations. Three of these organisations ~ the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamic Oikyo Jote and the Jaito Party(M) ~ were partners in the ruling alliance led by Khaleda Zia. Under their influence and patronage, the fundamentalist elements have penetrated not only in the power structure of the state but also in the educational institutions and other layers of the society. The agents of the ISI and Al-Qaeda are now able to strike a sympathetic chord in quite a few sections of the Bangladeshi society and the state’s power structure. This has enabled them to establish a number of training camps for the militants, provide safe-havens to them and, taking advantage of the porous border, send them to different parts of India to carry out acts of terrorism.
To retrieve the prevailing agonising conditions, I have a few suggestions to make. The Supreme Court, in its order of December 2006, in Sonowal II, has already directed that the new arrangements under the Foreigners Act should be put in force within four months. The Centre and the state government should carry out this direction and effectively enforce the provisions of the said Act and the Rules made thereunder. If this is not done, Sonowal or some other public-spirited person should again move the Supreme Court and request it to set up a monitoring committee to ensure that the court’s directions are complied with. Such a monitoring committee was appointed by the Supreme Court in what is known as the Delhi “Sealing Case’, and its impact has been decisive.
All the Bangladeshi migrants who are detected and declared as illegal foreigners under the Foreigners Act but whose physical deportation causes practical problems should be given temporary work-permits for specified items till they return to the native place. In any case, their names should be deleted from the electoral rolls and they should be prohibited to participate in any other national activity.

No negotiation

Currently, Ulfa’s top leaders are directing their operations from Bangladesh. They are doing so in close cooperation with the ISI and Bangladesh and other outfits. They have developed strong vested interests in the huge funds that flow to them. To register their presence, they do not hesitate even to blow up innocent Assamese children gathering for independence parade or for buying vegetables from the market. To talk to such leaders, either directly or through interlocutors, amounts to nothing but feeding the evil. The government must, therefore, declare in no uncertain terms that no negotiation or any kind would be held with Ulfa unless it abjures violence and gives up its demand for sovereignty state of Assam.
The blood-chilling incidents of the last few days in Assam once again remind us that “India can be governed firmly or not at all”. The national leadership of all hues and colours must realise that the country’s integrity and well-being can be ensured only by principled and effective governance and not by creating vote-banks or appeasing negative and nihilist forces. The leadership will also do well to keep in mind what Paul Wilkinson, a noted scholar of terrorism and subversion, has underlined: “Rebellions do not generally fade away; they have to be put down firmly and ruthlessly, if normal life and business are to be restored”.

Movie 'Water'

Movie 'Water' by Deepa Mehta is being released in India on Feb 23, 2007. I was unaware of this fact because I had seen it in August, 06 at Chicago. This movie's shooting was stalled in Banaras by Hindu fundamentalists and thus Mehta had to shift her location to Sri Lanka.

I see no reasonas as to why this movie should face wrath from orthodox Hindus! This movie is a grim reminder of the plight of Hindu widows, particularly young widows who have to face isolation and how they have to live a wretched life afterwards. I have great admiration for Hinduism and proud of it, but casteism, untouchability and other taboos are a hinderance to our progress as a society. After seeing Water' -which depicts the times of 1930s- one feels encouraged that situation has actually improved as far as the fate of Hindu widows is concerned. And there is always a scope for further improvement provided we take critical analysis of the problem.

Building an Ugly India

India is on the move. Meet anyone -more so someone who has returned from India- and ask him/her: "So India is progressing well?" "Oh,yeah! for sure. Wherever you go, you see new roads, bridges being constructed. The face of India is changing and it is changing very fast. New buildings are coming up. And they add: If you want to see a true revolution of mobile telephony, India ia an apt example."

However, what kind of India is coming up? Confused and zig-zag! What are we building up: cities of slums! Villages are shrinking up and being replaced by messy sub-divisions (tehsils). We have absolutely no control over our civic planning: things are just popping up haphazardly. And lesser we talk about pollution, the better it is! It is not that we cannot plan or envisage: we have brilliant minds in the concerned fields to take care of the things. But who cares! The mafia of builders and greedy politicians will like to put everything on sale to fill their coffers! It is so pathetic to see that Delhi which is so badly congested continues to expand with the help of its satellite towns: Faridabad, Gurgaon, NOIDA, and many more (see a link below about Gurgaon). Such is the expediency that from Presidential house (Rastrapati Bhavan) to needle-manufacturing units and pollution-emitting industrial units: everything seems to be hinging on Delhi or around. Everyting and everyone seems to be rushing towards Delhi! The situation of Mumbai and Kolkatta seems to be more horrific!

In this brilliant article "Building an Ugly India", Gautam Bhatia- who is an architect- speaks out his inner pain the way we continue to build an ugly India.
Click on the link to read this article. Solution: He concludes by asking:"Or is it too late?"
http://www.india-seminar.com/2001/501/501%20gautam%20bhatia.htm


Link about Gurgaon: A concerned citizen writes in The Tribune (Feb, 07):

Pangs of growth

Gurgaon town is growing by leaps and bounds. Presently, it consists of 56 sectors. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has planned 51 additional sectors by 2021 in the Master Plan touching IMT Manesar.

Then comes the realm of Special Economic Zones — 600 acres by Orient Craft, 10,000 acres by HSIDC, 25,000 acres by Reliance Industries Limited, 20,000 acres by DLF and 5,000 acres by Raheza Group. Many more players may join the bandwagon by 2021. HUDA is also planning the expansion of Dharuhera complex from the other end. By 2021, Gurgaon town would become a monstrous city of 400 sectors!

With the existing drainage system, Gurgaon cannot bear even a single 50 mm rainfall of two hours. Environmental and ecological problems will further compound the sustainable issues. Will the Haryana government and NCR authorities realise the gravity of the situation and apply a mid-course correction expeditiously?

RAM NIWAS MALIK, Engineer-in-Chief (retd),Panckhula

A NRI asks Railways to improve!

A USA based NRI- Dr Themplangad- has filed a writ petition against Indians Railways to improve practices of human excreta disposal as the current practices of disposing excreta in the open is not healthy and environmental friendly. Good job! We actually need many more such actions to improve civic amenities back home. Here is the link to this article published online on rediff.com on Januuary 28, 2007.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/jan/28rail.htm

Politically Incorrect

Atanu Dey (http://www.deeshaa.org/) has written this beautiful critique on Indian voters. Whereas we Indians typically like to bask in the glory of our past, this is a slightly different prespective. He makes a valid point, though I think the helplessness of Indian voter is partly due to the lack of reforms in our electoral process.

I am never quite sure why people insist that the Indian democracy is so great. To me it appears to be the greatest curse imposed on India from up on high. It is totally politically (sic) incorrect to take this view, of course. But I don’t apologize for believing so and I am convinced that the Indian voter is corrupt.
Rajesh Jain’s blog has an item on lessons from India’s elections which got me thinking. The claim made by Shekhar Gupta of the Indian Express is that India’s voter has become smart.
Compared to whom? I ask. Compared to Shekhar Gupta?
I guess so since Shekhar Gupta claims that the Indian voter has become smart. For I don’t see any reason to believe that the Indian voter has changed in any substantial way. The Indian voter continues to be a narrow-minded, ignorant, casteist, bigoted, vacuous idiot it has always been.
Here is my reasoning.
Exhibit A: I look at the politicians of this country. To a first approximation, they are ignorant, bigoted, casteist, vacuous idiotic criminals. These bunch of unspeakable criminals (where I use the word in its literal sense) are consistently voted into power by the Indian voter.
Fact B: A population of wise, informed, well-meaning, broad-minded, intelligent voters cannot continue to vote a bunch of corrupt ignorant bigots as their political leaders.
Major Premise C: Voters reveal their character by expressing their preferences at the polls.
Minor Premise D: Leaders are endogenous to the group, that is, they emerge from within the group and so reflect the dominant traits of the group. Mr Gupta writes that the voter is not swayed by charisma. Well, how would we know? We need charismatic people first and then if the voter is unmoved, we can say that it is true.
We do know that the Indian voter is swayed by “big names”, though. Why else would they trot out an uneducated chap (Rahul Gandhi) as the Congress mascot unless they were confident that the Indian voter will be swayed?
What else explains the tenacity with which the entire Nehru-Gandhi clan is totally into getting into the highest political positions? By their indomitable courage? No. Their astonishing brilliance in academics? None are really even educated. Their thorough understanding of the problems of development? Never done an honest day’s work. Their undying dedication to the hard task of nation building? Shirley, you jest. Their selfless sacrifice demonstrated by their social work? Not a bloody chance in hell.
What then explains the astonishing idiocy of the Indian voter to continue to vote the Nehru-Gandhi clan to power?
Let’s face the facts. I would have loved to report that we are a great democracy. We are not. If we were, we would not be facing the prospect of having an Italian aupair as the prime minister of a country of 1000 000 000 people. She says that she is loyal to her adopted country (never mind that she did not apply for Indian citizen for over a decade). Well, I would ask her whether she has any loyalty to the country that she was born in. No? If a person has no loyalty towards the land of one’s birth, I would not pay a tinker’s damn to any other oath of loyalty that the person takes. If you change your allegiance once, it is all too easy to do it once again. Indians who don’t understand that simple concept are idiots and I don’t care how accomplished they may be in their respective fields. If an Indian says that Sonia’s origin is not an issue for the prime minister’s seat, I would say that Indian is a moron.
I have met only a handful of politicians personally. I have known some of them well and all of them—every one of them to the last person—has accumulated vast sums of money through bribery and corruption. It is a random sample. I have no doubt that the vast majority of Indian politicians are corrupt. Politicians are endogenous to the population. They are random samples drawn from the underlying population. In other words, the sample characteristics give an indication of the population characteristics. The corruption of the politicians is the single most damning evidence that the voters are corrupt.
That is the law.

Where do we stand

Where do we stand in the contemporary world !

In year 2006: India ranks very low at 126 in HDI (Human Development Index) as released by the UNO.
Poverty Index is another way of looking at the things and surely we have no respectable scoring here too as we have lop-sided development in our stride so far.

Wikipedia provides the following info about these indices:

1] The Human Poverty Index is an indication of the standard of living in a country, developed by the United Nations (UN). The UN considers this a better indicator than the Human Development Index, which in turn is considered a better indicator than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

2] The Human Development Index (HDI) is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living for countries worldwide. It is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used to determine and indicate whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country and also to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life.[1] The index was developed in 1990 by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and has been used since 1993 by the United Nations Development Programme in its annual Human Development Report.