India Daily

Yesterday’s demon has turned into today’s angel. Is it a paradox of democracy or body politic in India. Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state when Babri Mosque was demolished. The incident became a milestone in always strained relations between Hindus and Muslims. Even the supreme court of India punished Kalyan Singh for this political audacity. Now the same gentleman has accepted the responsibility for that action and is preaching Hindu-Muslim amity. He has joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Perhaps political expediency dictated Kalyan Singh’s latest move. Yadav too willingly embarrassed his one time political foe.

The maverick Lalu Yadav, Railway Minister in the UPA Government does not mince words or miss any opportunity to lambast the BJP and RSS. Bit all this is for public consumption. He wants us to “Do what I Say not What I do”. The Tehelka weekly magazine (issue 24 January 2009) informs us that the RSS stalwart Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who is also former Vice-President of India and Chief Minister for Rajasthan, was chosen by Lalu Yadav as the local guardian for his daughters when they were studying in the Maharani College, Jaipur (Rajasthan, an elite educational institution). It was disclosed by none but by Shekhawat himself during a course of an interview.

Prepare yourself to listen from Lalu Yadav that all this is a conspiracy to defame him by the RSS leader. Perhaps Lalu and his ilk think that the people are fool and can be fooled by any Tom and Harry.

Wahid Saleh, an Assamese origin has made interesting comments on Indian democracy from Netherlands in the Assam Times. Assam is a north eastern state in India. It reels under the unbridled influx of illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and terrorist violence, unleashed by various groups in the state.
When asked to comment on Indian democracy he said:
With more than a billion people, the Republic of India is the world’s largest democracy. In spite of poverty, considerable illiteracy and diversity on a sub-continental scale, it is still is a democracy. Democratic procedures go down to the village level. Indian government has decentralized several administrative functions, empowering elected gram panchayats to govern at the village level. This is something special. But the question is what type of democracy we have in India when ethnic and other identities like religion or language determine the voting process where a right of the group is more important than individual rights?
After the terrorist attacks in Mumbai the city elite and intellectuals were blaming the politicians. At the same time voters have turned up in unprecedented numbers to cast their ballots in elections to local assemblies in six states. And whom did they elect?
According to a study conducted by National Election Watch as many as 125 candidates with criminal records have won in assembly elections in December 2008. There are several candidates who have cases of serious criminal charges such as murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping against them. Affidavits submitted by the candidates showed that the total number of candidates with criminal records who contested the assembly elections were 549.
I think it was in a speech in 1999 our former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said that despite the outward appearance of health, Indian democracy appears to have become hollow, with elections reduced to a farce and the “party system eroded due to unethical practices.” According to Vajpayee, “The outer shell of democracy is, no doubt, intact, but appears to be moth-eaten from inside.” Vajpayee wondered whether democracy had truly taken root in India. “How can democratic institutions work properly,” he asked, “when politics is becoming increasingly criminalized?”
There is enough room for improvement. But still I am proud of it as it is still working and keeping India in one piece. Indeed India is the largest democracy. But is there freedom for all? According to the law all are equal in India. But due to the all compassing caste systems prevailing in our society, some people are more equal then the others. Otherwise we would not have 780 million Dalits, many of them still fighting at the lowest ladder of the society. Many of them are not allowed visiting the temples frequented by the upper caste or draw water from the village well.
There is no real freedom. Sometimes you even cannot choose different policies and different political parties and elect different leaders as the same set of leaders keep changing parties. An extraordinary growth of regional parties, coupled with defection politics and political infighting, the legitimization of criminal elements in the parliament and the State legislatures have compelled us to lose our faith in the ballot-box. The wheels of the electoral politics run on unaccounted money. This was also telecast live from the Indian parliament where three MPs pulled out bundles of notes to show that they were given to change party. The shocking statistic of vote for cash in Karnataka was highlighted in a study conducted by the Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Media Studies, titled ‘Alarming trend of purchasing voters’. Karnataka tops the country in voters being bribed to cast their vote in favour of a particular political party for money.
Another disturbing factor in Indian democracy is the use of populism in the political arena. It is a growing force in India, posing as “senas” or savior of local culture, generally operating as fronts for political parties to carry out their dirty jobs. Some of them will work for the highest bidders. Many of us have experienced corrupt bureaucracy and complain about it. But we have no ideas on removing this evil.
There is a rise of extremist ideologies, regional chauvinism, Islamic and Hindu fundamentalism, exploitation and communalism. There is no fatwas in the Hindu religion. But in 2001 the fundamentalist groups succeeded in preventing the circulation of the book “The Myth of the Holy Cow”, by Prof. D.N. Jha. A custodian of Hinduism even sentenced the author to death. The book was ultimately published outside India. In 2004, the government of Maharashtra banned the book “Shivaji: Hindu King of Islamic India” by US academic James W Laine. On January 5, 2004, in the name of protecting the image of Shivaji, large scale violence was unleashed by a mob resulting in the destruction of properties, valuable books. They ransacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune and destroyed valuable collections. Maqbool Fida Husain, India’s most famous living artist was banned by Hindu fundamentalist groups from exhibiting his work in Delhi as they were enraged by his paintings of nude gods and goddesses. But they all go on a pilgrimage to see the erotic sculptures of the sun temples of Khajuraho. We have seen what Raj Thackery did to North Indians. After the attack in Mumbai we have seen how Shiva Senas ransacked the properties of the lawyers who wanted to defend the terrorist. This is what I mean by - there is no freedom in our democracy.
Among the intellectuals of India, in their discussion I think four subjects dominates – cricket, cinema, corrupt politicians and corrupt system. In spite of all its drawbacks, Indian democracy was and still is a secular democracy and a republic with its States enjoying a good measure of autonomy, is still vibrant. There is a silent majority which upholds the values of democracy. Unlike our neighbouring countries, Indian democracy is not dominated by its religious leaders and the armed forces. We still sing with full conviction – Sare Jahan se Asha, Hindustan Hamara. Abroad, we are not Assamese, Bengali, Marathi or Punjabi. We are all Indians.

http://www.assamtimes.org/Editorial/2578.html

A good number of press persons took a march on Wednesday afternoon in New Delhi, Capital of India to express solidarity with the martyrs and victims in Mumbai 26/11. Later, the press persons lighted candles in memory of the departed souls at the Press Club of India. At least two members of the Press including noted columnist Sabina Sehgal Saikia lost their lives in the terrorists attack on Hotel Taj. The victims were staying there as guests.

The People’s Union for Democratic Rights has condemned the incident of vandalism by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad goons (ABVP, student wing of the RSS) in Delhi University, in which members of the press community were also made victims.

The University Community, an independent group of students and teachers of Delhi University, organised a meeting on “Communalism, Fascism and Democracy: Rhetoric and Reality” on 6th November 2008 at Room No. 22 Arts Faculty. It did not come as a surprise that right-wing forces would be opposed to any meaningful discussion on these issues.

As the Chair of the meeting, SAR Geelani (lecturer at Zakir Husain College, University of Delhi), came inside the room and took his seat, one of the ABVP members came and spat on his face twice. It was then that we realised that this was a planned attempt to disrupt the public meeting – ABVP goondas were sitting inside the room and they rose to hurl abuses at the participants and physically attack them. DUSU President Nupur Sharma (of ABVP) entered the room and declared that SAR Geelani, a lecturer of this University, could not speak in the University! This, when we had taken due permission from the University authorities to conduct the meeting.

The ABVP goons attacked the women students and participants, broke the microphone and hurled chairs. They also manhandled media persons who were covering the meeting. Two journalists from Tehelka and Mail Today, who were speakers at the meeting, were threatened by ABVP. The mother of one of the media persons who was present had to leave the venue because she was terrorised by the goons. At this point, the Pro-Vice Chancellor and the Proctor called one of the organisers and told him that the meeting could not go on because it was creating a ‘law and order’ problem. Who did the University administration side with? ABVP.

It was the courage and fortitude of the audience who insisted on continuing the meeting. The ABVP goons were pushed out of the room and the meeting continued behind closed doors. ABVP did not stop there. In the presence of a large contingent of Delhi Police, and we dare say with their permission, they threw stones at the room, broke all the window panes, tried to break the doors and continued abusing – Goli maaro saalon ko, Pakistan Murdabad, Vande Mataram – were some of the better ones. SAR Geelani, in particular was targeted. However, they could not scare us and stop the meeting from concluding successfully.

The University Community, the organisor of the meeting alleged that this was not the first effort of ABVP to snatch all the democratic space available to it in the University. Last year, the faculty members and students of the History Department were targeted only because of a text in their syllabus. The same goons who once attacked our right to study history texts today attacked our right to hold meetings and discussions.

During a meeting on communalism and fascism, it witnessed the threat and danger posed by these communal and fascist forces to the secular and democratic fabric of our country. The parent organisation of ABVP, and the politics espoused by them, is responsible for the widespread attack on minorities across the country. It is they who were responsible for the genocide in Gujarat and for spreading the politics of hate and fear. If we remain silent today, we will lose whatever little space that is left to us in the University. Do we need to take permission from ABVP to hold a meeting in the University? Who does the University administration and Delhi Police support in the fight against fascism?

It has called upon the entire University community to protest against this assault on academic freedom and democratic rights. In protest of today’s events, the University community has organised a protest march on November 07 at the University, at 11:00 a.m. at Vivekananda statue, Arts Faculty.

It has also demamded:

1. The University administration should lodge a FIR against ABVP members, especially persons like Nupur Sharma, Vikas Dahiya, Desh Ratan, Sonu Singh and Ashutosh.

2. Time-bound enquiry into this act of vandalism and goondaism and action against the people found guilty.

3. To give us assurance that future public meetings on similar issues will not be disrupted by these goons.

I received an interesting email from Dr. Ramesh Mathur, a dental Surgeon in Gurgaon ( Haryana) this morning. I want to share it with you. It makes an interesting reading.
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Yes, we all should support Raj Thackeray and take his initiative ahead by doing more...

We should teach our kids that if he is second in class, don’t study harder.. just beat up the student coming first and throw him out of the school
Parliament should have only Delhiites as it is located in delhi
Prime-minister, president and all other leaders should only be from Delhi
No Hindi movie should be made in Bombay. Only Marathi.
At every state border, buses, trains, flights should be stopped and staff changed to local men.
All Maharashtrians working abroad or in other states should be sent back as they are SNATCHING employment from Locals
Lord Shiv, Ganesha and Parvati should not be worshiped in our state as they belong to north (Himalayas)
Visits to Taj Mahal should be restricted to people from UP only
Relief for farmers in Maharashtra should not come from centre because that is the money collected as Tax from whole of India, so why should it be given to someone in Maharashtra?
Let’s support Kashmiri Militants because they are right in killing and injuring innocent people for the benefit of their state and community..
Let’s throw all MNCs out of Maharashtra, why should they earn from us? We will open our own Maharashtra Microsoft, MH Pepsi and MH Marutis of the world
Let’s stop using cellphones, emails, TV, foreign Movies and dramas. James Bond should speak Marathi
We should be ready to die hungry or buy food at 10 times higher price but should not accept imports from other states.
We should not allow any industry to be setup in Maharashtra because all machinery comes from outside. We should STOP using local trains... Trains are not manufactured by Marathi manoos and Railway Minister is a Bihari
Ensure that all our children are born, grow, live and die without ever stepping out of Maharasthra, then they will become true Marathis

JAI MAHARASHTRA!

Come summer and India is reeling under power cuts. As mercury is rising, anger is rising among common Indians who are forced to stay without electricity for hours. Angry residents have attacked power utilities in Delhi, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh. In Kanpur, Union Home Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal joined angry protesters demanding electricity for the city that was reeling under 16 hours of power cut. Almost every state in the country is facing grim power situation.

Delhi is facing 30 percent shortage in power. Maharashtra on an average has 8 to 10 hours of load shedding every day. Madhya Pradesh has 26 percent power deficit. In Gujarat, while the requirement is 5,500 Mega Units, availability is 4,780 Mega Units. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are facing 2000 Mega Units of energy deficit and Bihar and Jammu and Kashmir have 1,500 and 1000 Mega Units of power shortages respectively.

I do agree when people say that there are millions of jobs in India but many of the people are employable. But the reason is not due to a lack of talent. India has some of the best talents that the world has ever seen and can ever see. The real culprit for unemployment is the talent not getting its proper recognition and nurture. In India even today, if you want to have a successful career you need to opt for engineering, medicine, information technology or business management. Every college graduate has to show his mental proficiencies largely in these fields alone if he has to keep his pockets full of cash.

I would like to ask, what about ornithology, archeology or let us say some of the fine arts? The saddest thing is that a person who is truly talented in these fields does not find any opportunity to earn his bread and butter (I mean rice and grain) in his country and he has to mould his interests to suit the profile of an engineer, a doctor or a business manager. Other than this at the 12th standard level when a student makes specific career choices its rather peer influence, parental pressure or the current employment scenario that decides the career that he opts for, rather than his own personal liking.

Did somebody say that the Indian education is obsolete? Is it that the laws of physics hold good for today and not tomorrow? Why blame the syllabus when we don’t know how to use it? New economy is something that has come today. To appreciate its worth you need to have a sound knowledge of the old. You need to learn to crawl before you learn to walk. It is only very recently that a noted Indian management guru has shown the world how a management mantra of Chanakya (advisor to the great Mauryan emperor Chandra Gupta ) can provide the best solution to many of the current day and futuristic global management problems. Rote learning could never have produced a C.V. Raman or an Amartya Sen.

How do you define basic skills- knowledge of good communicative English? Why aren’t our people mature enough to understand that English is a foreign language for Indians and cent per cent proficiency should not be expected? When Japanese and Russian employers have looked beyond English for making progress, why shouldn’t an Indian employer give such an opportunity to his prospective employee? Yes, before talking about technical knowledge, I think we should think about the laboratory facilities given to the mass students. How can a person be creative when he has a limited choice of career options? We cannot think beyond the IT sector and its related areas.

Another very very grave issue that needs to be addressed is the brain drain. So is it lack of talent or our excessive desire for money, power, fame and social status that is eroding India of the employees that her business establishments truly deserve?
Of course academic policies and measures should be updated from time to time and our youth trained for employment as they have the capabilities to become the best global citizens to tread this earth.

Via: DNA India, Corbis

Inflation has spared none so far and no, Gods are not going to be spared either. Food prices have sky rocketed all over the globe in past few months and it is has hit Indians where it hurts the most. Indian devotees quite accustomed to bathe God in milk and offering flowers and fruits have been forced to cut down their daily offering. Most of them are heading temples in the mornings with empty folded hands with ardent prayers in their soul.

In past few months prices of milk, oil, lentils, rice and all essential commodities have risen sharply all over the globe. There is decline in local and global agriculture produce, so international markets are riding high and there is very little any government can do. From Africa to Thailand it is the same story. According to the U.N food program, more than 100 million people are being driven deeper into poverty due to rising food prices. This has led to world-wide protests and also to food-riots in some countries.

Recently a new Thorium based research reactor went critical or as a put to layman, became fully operational at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai. This reactor hardly produces any heat or energy but yet it is a point of high achievement for nuclear scientists in India and all over the world. For first time an alternative to Uranium, which is rare and not easily available in India, is being tested. Thorium, in its raw form is available in abundance on the beaches of Kerala and India is third largest known reserve of thorium. So there is a reason to rejoice. If everything works according to scientific blueprint, India will have indigenous solution to its energy needs for next 250 years.