Take the reigns of your Life!

Don’t let any other decide what you have to do in your life, and don’t decide it for others yourself.

Why are we on earth for if not to make this one chance count by doing whatever comes to your mind as worthy of doing. After all, this is the only chance you get to live. Now, traditionally, the conditions around us were not ideal for such things as our conservative society has certain apprehensions on what, when, how and where we should do things that are important part of the life for each one of us. But, the important detail that has missed there was and still is the ‘why’ part.

Now, the ‘why’ part has been dodged or even kept untouchable for centuries. all this time, It has been deemed as disrespectful to ask ‘why,’ especially to ask elders, who unfortunately couldn’t see that the progress of human brain, intelligence is irrevocably attached to that question, ‘Why’. So, they kept dodging it and kept punishing the knowledge seekers in one or the other, even though the latter had found a way through all the muck of blind premonitions and made the world, what it is now, a global technological village with end to end communication in seconds.

Not everything is about technology though, after all it is merely there to better the pleasure of living. So, it is crucial for every human being to understand that living is meant to be pleasurable and one should thrive for it in any and every possible righteous way. And for that you need to ‘why’ yourself as many times as you can. One should also remember that in doing so, he/she should not intently make it painful for others, not for their sakes, but absolutely for your own. But, to really live it large, It is imperative that you take the reigns of your only life and not leave them with others at any stage of it.

But, most of the time, what we do is the opposite of that, we heavily depend on others to make decisions of our own, and we heavily indulge in decisions that are to be taken by others. Yes, we do have our parents and elders making decisions for us while growing up, which unfortunately continues too far. Parenting is not about making decisions for your child, it is about making him/her learn to take them for themselves as they grow into a man/woman. But, keeping on making them even after the young ones come of age makes things complicated for every one.

It doesn’t matter how close or far you are with that other person, you can’t be him or her, and you can never have a common brain. So, an ideal relationship - even more so if it is that of love - is that one, where one never infiltrate into that territory of the other, where the decision to be taken is about the other’s life.

Yes, it is true that you can’t make all the decisions right, no one can. But, it is your life and you have the soul responsibility towards it. You can take as many advices, but you and only you make that final decision and you have the right to defy every existing premonition if you rightly feel so. And don’t forget, every incredible invention has a long line of defiers, who had persistently believed in their own brains and made their own decisions. And of course, not every one needs to invent some great thing, but every one must and should invent his/her own way of living, living with pleasure.

God is irrelevant

Don’t pray; Just think, do, love and live…

Whats the first word we utter when some one runs across our bike or car and we apply a sudden brake and successfully evade an accident? Thank god, good god or Thank heavens or some other similar versions in our own languages, and that is universal. Of course, it is an instinctive phrase and used as so by some. But, most of us do think we mean it and it was practiced as such for thousands of years, since the man’s creation of God.

The brakes we applied, the vehicle we are driving, the roads, and if I may go a little further, each and everything that is on you hasn’t come from god, but from human intelligence. Every luxury you are taking pleasure in, each and every utility you are daily using has come from our own wisdom.

Centuries of human brilliance, which had started defying the existing rules of blind faith, had often ended in tragedy for the real thinkers, the scientists. The fight between faith and science had always ended in tragedy. And it is an undeniable fact that we are here today, and not in jungles, because of science, but not blind faith. Many early scientists and philosophers gave their lives following what their minds told, paving a way forward for their destroyers.

I do come to the point, where god, or the creation comes into the picture even in the example i gave. The friction between the road (or earth) and the vehicle, or the earth itself, the atmosphere, the rains and all the creation that's there for the man had come or still comes from a god, they say. Whether it is a god, a supernatural force or the nature itself, who or which has created the world and us, the god, we, humans have created, and prayed and are still praying can be safely distanced from that, because we know that, with such prayers, we are reaching nowhere but only to our mind, or to a neighboring person, if you let them out. Now, he/she can surely help you, but not the blindness that you are praying to.

When science is moving ahead finding answers for everything that has been a mystery and declared to stay as one by the mystics of blind faith, we are long behind the times, still praying to wrong gods and cursing each other. Just remember before the next time you even think of praying for a divine intervention that you are insulting centuries of human intelligence, human spirit that put you here, that you are insulting your own kind, your brain. You are insulting yourself!

Enough of sentiments being hurt, what about Scientific Temper?

One of the many videos that is in circulation on social media of a religious ceremony, epitomizes the still existing blind faith. Even though, the particular video only exposes one instance, there are many examples of such stage magic across religions in our country. Movies like 'Oh My God' or 'PK' can only come and go. Why? And How? 

First of all, this circulation, which is producing lot of laughs, also shows some sort of hypocrisy that has been induced into each one of us. While mocking such stage dramas, which are merely showing, what most of us hope for and ask for in many of our daily prayers. While we are mocking the guy on stage, we are also mocking ourselves.

We bear and laugh off such acts, but the slightest hint of serious questioning of the blind faith gets the raw treatment, first from the fringe groups, who create some sort of ruckus that will be backed up by softies, who say that it is hurting the sentiments of believers. Irrespective of the party in power, There have been instances, where books, movies, images or even cartoons, which ridicule the blind faith, faced the brunt of a ban by the state. Even as i write this, some country bombs were thrown by a fringe group on a TV channel office for conducting a discussion show on 'MangalSutra.'

So then, what about the sentiments of the rationalists, atheists or even agnostics, who get hurt every time, when their faith to reason and logic gets quashed by the blind, nonsensical rhetorics? How long should, only they have to tolerate this apathy with no such tolerance coming from the other side.

With the number of recent bans making it clear, where even the fresh government — which came to power on the plank of development, by the way — stands, it seems the development of scientific temperament and reason that the constitution asks of its citizens is at stake. Unfortunately, the governments and political establishments at large are just happy to keep the people there in the dark.

Stage dramas:

Minding the Mindset

The people who are feeling that Nirbhaya was insulted by the documentary must be actually feeling insulted for themselves and are reluctant to accept that such kind of mindset is not uncommon in our over-glorified country. This whole episode of outrage over the making of the documentary — even before watching it — itself proves that those, who want this documentary off the lime light are wrong, as it has clearly brought back the issue into the public debate actually. Can any one deny that?

There are two separate things that are being questioned now: one is the need to interview criminals behind bars, which has so much to do with the mindsets of people in our country - especially in cases like Nirabhaya - which has to be checked; and the second is on whether the documentary can effectively convey the message for the betterment of our society or not, for which one has to see it first.

Now, the only criticism that can be attributed to the media that has aired part of the interview or at least tried to do so yesterday, is the usual sensationalization that can be found in everyday news. It did piss me off when they were putting each ugly remark that the culprit had made as a headline one after the other. But, I think our anger against the media or the foreign film maker is either misplaced or is a sign of our insecurity, as a society.

What can one say, when our Union Home Minister, seconds after telling that he was hurt watching those comments made by the culprit, questions the need to make such a documentary that has compelled him to make a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the issue in one way or the other. Some of our honorable intellectual members of 'House of elders' also took the same route, with few acknowledging the need for change of mindset.

And for those, who say and believe that the documentary is defaming us as it is only one rapist's mindset that can't be generalized, the documentary also includes the interviews of culprit's lawyers, who are as defying as the culprit in saying that the victim should be on road at that time and that she should have pleaded him for mercy or whatever. And above all, we have our own parliamentarians and leaders, who make almost similar comments frequently. Do we need more proof than that?

The government has just acted like a traditional Indian family, which wants to keep the secrets inside, regardless of how worse the situation is for half of the people in it.

Anyway, as most of us will gradually start paying lesser and lesser attention to the issue, hell with it, lets just block and ban everything that tries to make us think, and lets live in ignorance…

Cultivation of another kind…

Leaked internal mails allegedly reveal favors by Corporate groups to people in places of power

Another whistle was blown on Friday, just a day before Union budget gets placed in the parliament and grabs the lime light, revealing several internal mails of a corporate group, ESSAR, which has allegedly engaged in unethical practices of appeasing a number of politicians, bureaucrats and journalists by offering smart phones, jobs to recommended candidates, free rides and even (as small as) top ups.The mails also mention other corporate groups which have mastered the art according to them.

However, all the mainstream channels on Friday were selective in targeting the Union Minister Nithin Gadkari, keeping the corporate entity and the other beneficiaries out of the debate mostly. Almost all the channels spent their air time in questioning the Union Minister Nithin Gadkari's propriety (moral or otherwise) in taking a two night trip with his family to a french cruise ship, which belongs to a subsidiary of ESSAR corporate group, during one of their foreign tours in July, 2013. The Minister's family has also allegedly used the company's chopper for their travel to the yacht.

Mr. Gadkari was reportedly not in any official position at that time in the government or in BJP, but his influence over his party Chief Ministers at that time and his current portfolio as a Union Minister, are well with in the bounds of taking important decisions, which might have or may favor the ESSAR group. But the "quid pro quo" is not established by any party just yet. On the other side, Mr. Gadkari and his defenders inside and outside BJP say that he had only visited a friend during his personal tour with his family and that it doesn't amount to propriety. But, none of these people were asked what they think about the corporate groups internal mails in which company officials discuss about cultivating influential personalities, which clearly shows their intentions. Some mails also seem to have mentioned similar practices by other big corporates like Reliance and Airtel.

Some other conspicuous issues that came out of the mails are the proposals to offer smart phones and job opportunities to the candidates recommended by these personalities that include prominent politicians like Digvijay Singh, who when approached by media said that they have only recommended eligible candidates and apparently felt nothing wrong in doing so. Hail the impartial partiality of our Netas.

Following the exposes, some of the journalists, who allegedly received cab services among others, have faced the wrath from their managements, which in the case of Hindustan Times seems to have opened more such allegations as per this report. More detailed report about the expose in Indian express can be found here.

Renowned Supreme court lawyer and a crusader of corruption, Prashanth Bhushan has filed people interest litigation on the issue, while the ESSAR group has released a statement saying that leaking of their private mails amounts to theft and that they will take legal steps. They have also stated that some of the mails are 'apparently' fabricated.

Caravan's latest report with proofs on Gadkari's report can be found here. 

Additions:

Fresh detailed report in NewsLaundry explains how Essar officials have allegedly tried to persuade journalists to alter articles in their favor. The report also mentions some articles which might or might not have influenced by the group. One particular article mentioned among them, about the group's involvement in the 2G scam, was reported by Ashish Khetan, who was with Tehalka then, and is currently a prominent member of Aam Aadmi Party. However, there is no mention of any favors to him in the mails that do mention some other journalists from some prominent media organizations.

How the State is destroying small farmers

85% of farmers in AP and Telangana are in debt against 45% all over the nation

The farmers of Andhra Pradesh(and Telangana), known as the ‘Rice bowl of India’, are at cross roads, not for the first time. They are forced to be there, year after year, one season after another, barely surviving the times that are becoming harder and harder for small farming. Some of them thought they had enough of feeding the nation, which couldn’t feed them. The ever-growing debts made them choose death over life. And a substantial amount of them have migrated to near by or even far bound cities to work as daily wager labourers.

 

In India, small farmers (owning less than 5 acres) constitute around 85% of farming households holding a land of about 35.5% of the total land. 11.24% of them(85%) are not landowners, they depend on farming by borrowing land or by working in fields.

According to NSSO(National Sample Survey Organization) 2011 statistics(latest in this regard), 82% farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are in debt where as 45% all over India share the same fate. Andhra Pradesh(united) tops this list and that clearly is an indication the plights of farming community in our state(s). 

The national Crime Record Bureau(NCRB) records show that 2.8 lakh farmers all over India and around 36,000 in Andhra Pradesh(united) committed suicides, during the period 1995-2012...read full story@telugoos

 

The tragedy and the larger turmoil

Can we see this incident separately, unconnected to all other horrendous incidents that are happening all over India? No, not really, if we see the circumstances that lead to this tragedy: the alarms that don’t alarm, the tourist spot that wasn’t a tourist spot, the unharmed sand mafia which allegedly was the reason for the location to become a dangerous attraction for tourists, all the government authorities including tourism department which had no idea about the dangers awaiting, and the list just won’t stop. What all these show is just a common denominator among all of us: negligence, ‘gross collective negligence’.

Over the years, callousness has crept into our minds. Decades after the collective struggle for freedom, self-interests have overshadowed national interests. An Indian citizen now rarely feels that the common interests of the nation are his/her own interest too. And the government institutions are full of such selfish people(both political and bureaucratic), nowadays. That is why they are rarely proactive, usually reactive, but are always ‘reluctantly reactive,’ to the issues of ‘public importance’. They always seem to be too late and too hesitant to do the work for which they had enthusiastically taken the oath. An example is the Uttarakhand disaster, where, after one year...contd@Telugoos

Tale of 'Two States'

'Two States' has been in public terminology recently on two separate issues. One, regarding the division of Andhra Pradesh, which has been made into a 'hate affair' between two regions of people(speaking the same language), and on the other hand, a movie on Chetan Bhagat's book '2 states', an inter-state 'love affair,' which has got movie viewers' attention. I am not going into the latter one, except that it has all makings of an entertainer, nonetheless.

It's not the first time in India, a reorganization of states taking place. But, this part of the country has been struggling with the geographical borders, with one or the other region of people, always demanding some kind of reorganization, time and again. Even though, they speak same language, it is not going to address their political, economical and educational problems which are contrasting, go way back into the history, and were left unanswered mostly by leaders for far too long.

Recent History:

The Andhra and Rayalaseema regions collectively called as Seemandhra, were part of Madras Presidency and under the British rule for 200 years and continued to be so for few years after independence too till 1953, when it was divided from 'Madras State' to form a separate 'Andhra State'. All this time(Till 1948 to be exact), the Telangana region(as Hyderabad State) was under the rule of Nizam, during which it hadn't seen much development on both economical and educational fronts, of the general public, that is. But, on the contrary, The Seemandhra region, even under the british rule, got benefited from their pro-reforms policy(for their own benefits of trade, of course) that made the people there both economically and educationally better equipped for employment and industry, compared to those in Telangana region, by the time the 'two states' were combined to form 'Andhra Pradesh State' in 1956, on linguistic basis as recommended by the first State Reorganization Committee(SRC).

Is Bifurcation, the real Remedy?

As so many intellectuals and other apolitical leaders in both regions had already opined, a state division itself can never be an ultimate solution, a Zinda Tilismath, a remedy for all problems. But, it can pave ways towards a situation, where the backward regions(again in both states), which were badly ignored for years now, may get some kind of focus of the state and also public, in general. But again, that needs a political will, whose absence was the reason for the present situation, in first place.

What the 'Two States' are in for:

The two states are going into all kind of elections(Local bodies, Assembly and Lok Sabha) right away, and they are going into them unitedly, which is again a political mind game of the highest order. And as soon as the results of General Elections, 2014 gets declared on May 16, with in 15 days, on June 2, both states get separate assemblies on the basis of elections held in a combined state.

There is no doubt that the local body elections may have some affect on the comparably bigger elections of Assembly and LS. At the same time, the effects of sentiments and anti-sentiments over division, also may effect local body elections. But, the parties like Congress and TDP, who have been maintaining organized cadre deep into the roots, are expected to gain somewhat from the local body elections, and thus increasing their prospects in Assembly and LS elections, but mostly limiting to one region(former in Telangana region & latter in Seemandhra region).

Catching up:

But, in both regions, the popular vote is going to YSRC(in Seem-andhra) and TRS(in Telangana) parties respectively, as per current equations, for voicing their regions' concerns supposedly. Also, a recent Opinion Poll by CSDS(which wasn't degraded by the recent sting on opinion polls) for CNN-IBN, clearly shows that both TDP and Congress are catching up YSRC and TRS, in Seemandhra and Telangana regions, respectively (assuming Congress and TRS don't ally with each other). But, there is still lots of time left, two months almost, which is enough to win or loose an election. 

And it still gets more interesting with the popular Super star of Tollywood, especially in the recent times, Mr.Pawan Kalyan(younger brother of Mr.Chiranjeevi, Union Minister) and the ex and last CM of the united Andhra Pradesh, Kiran Kumar Reddy, launching their own parties to come into the fray of the General Elections, 2014.

Unfortunately, even after all this drama over bifurcation, which could have been clearly handled better, most of the leaders and parties that are going to take the reigns of the new states are going to be the same persons, that were largely responsible for all the misgovernance, that had happened over the years, but in new avatars of changed colors, flags, symbols, etc.

Parliament 'united' in ditching common man's interests

The 15th Loksabha gets dissolved in a few weeks and along with it , a number of bills too bite the dust, some of which were very important under present circumstances and which had wide consensus on several fronts including major political parties. But, somehow they couldn't see the light of the day, thanks to the union cabinet's decision not to pursue the ordinance route. And that makes for the least productive Loksabha ever with most ever number of lapsing bills(68, to be exact) while 2200 crores were spent on it for the 5 years of its time.

All excuses of technicalities, complexities, apprehensions, differences and disruptions which never arose while passing the bills that were benefiting political interests or politicians's personal interests, came in the way of passing anti graft bills(grievance redressals bill ,etc.), women reservations bill, judicial accountability bill ,etc(detailed report here and archive of 15th loksabha here). How come? Did all parties which publicly supported all these bills really committed to their word? Or did they just said it for face value and are letting them lapse, while blaming each other on camera and shaking hands behind?

It was said that the Union Government rejected to go with the ordinance route on anti graft bills as the President let his displeasure known about the same. But, however they did approve the ordinance on an amendment regarding the recently passed AP Reorganization Bill. Obviously, they want us to believe that they are two different issues.How different are they really? Similar to the Telangana issue, there was consensus on the other bills too. With this decision, all the effort, time and money that was spent on these bills for the last 5 years gets trashed along with the hope to fight against corruption.

And at last, the view that passing an ordinance now would be subverting the democratic system as General Elections are near, seems to be just a rhetoric that suits the detractors when there is no other way of opposing a move that is clearly pro-people. When whole nation is crying foul on corruption and women's issues, aren't lapsing anti graft bills and women's reservations bill, etc., eligible for ordinance route? Especially when it ultimately needs the approval of the new Parliament, during which the bill can be amended/disapproved?

But, the parties play tricks around these lines, Rahul claims the credit for trying to bring in those ordinances, BJP claims Congress is trying to do all things in a hurry at the last minute and they can play this ball back and forth, long, while the real issues take back seat, as they did for years now. After all, what purpose does the constitution, laws, and technicalities serve, when they are ultimately doing disservice to people.

Unfortunately, it still takes time for a majority of us to see through these multiple disguises that parties and politicians wear, at times, and rise above petty issues of region, religion, caste, sops, liquor and money while voting. Voting for common good, not just for oneself or one group is unlike us for now. Hope we get through this phase soon enough.

For a 'change', Politics for good?

The Kejriwal's exit from governance had been a predicted one, as he was hinting at it every now and then. But, he did it almost perfectly it seems, even though there are some apprehensions from a minority of observers.

This exit may also answer, why Mr.Kejriwal took his time(48 days, to be exact) in bringing Jan Lokpal Bill(New Lokayuktha Bill for Delhi), on which he and his team were working over years even before the AAP(Aam Aadmi Party) was launched. Instead of trying to pass it as early as possible, Mr.Kejriwal concentrated more on some of the other core issues of their manifesto and ensured that at least some part of them got executed. 

He knew that he didn't had enough time to fulfill all the promises in the manifesto, since his main aim, rightly, is whole nation, not just Delhi. And he doesn't want to wait till 2019, as it is difficult to sustain the fire in the hearts of  the people against corruption till then. So, he gave a glimpse of uncompromising governance to reassure the Delhi-ites(Which seems to have worked acc. to some surveys after AAP's exit), before taking up the Jan Lokpal Bill in the Assembly, which was the main reason for his existence itself in the politics. He did say that they were working on the bill from time to time, though.

He also knew that a strong Jan Lokpal Bill providing independent investigating powers to an autonomous body may not get the approval of both the major national parties in the Assembly. But to ensure that they do reject it in someway, a day before the assembly, he showed that he is going to pursue the corruption cases by launching a FIR(First Information Report) against the biggest name and highest authorities in the country. He acted upon the complaints made to him by TSR Subramaniam, a former Cabinet Secretary and co., by using the CrPC's principal of territorial Jurisdiction, which seems to allow ACB, along with the CBI to exercise concurrent jurisdiction over corruption crimes committed by Central public servants in Delhi. And The technicality that both Congress and BJP argued missing(which wasn't a problem for them in earlier assembly bills) couldn't really be the reason for their rejection to the bill. And thus Kejriwal not only achieved his safe exit but also succeeded in demonstrating that both Congress and BJP do come together when it comes to,a strong law against corruption or big corporates.

It is a safe exit for Mr.Kejriwal and AAP on two counts. One, because he can't tour the country, campaigning for Loksabha elections, without getting slammed for leaving the governance of Delhi after mere two months, unlike Mr.Modi, who has the luxury of having governed Gujarat for 2+ terms. There could have been a divided opinion inside and outside, on whether he should stay in Delhi and govern or should he go for campaign. Two, now,they can go to the masses without the unconditional support of congress to their government in Delhi, which was considered as a compromise between AAP and Congress by a sizable citizens of India. Also, not being power hungry tag can be used when there is a need.

There is no doubt that all AAP trying to do is expose that Congress, BJP and other parties are not serious when it comes to eradicating corruption. And they are in a hurry to change it quickly, as agreed by their leaders on various occasions. As several analysts, intellectuals always say, it takes time to bring out a sustainable change. But, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to do it as fast as you could. AAP is a young party, and synonymous with the current youth, they want to do it quick. They should target for a sustainable change, but not a change that can be changed back.

After all this Drama or Dharna(protest) or whatever one can assume it, all AAP may get is a single digit in General Elections, 2014. But, surely the 16th Loksabha is going to have a far less number of criminals in attendance than the last 2 or may be 3 Loksabhas, thanks to AAP!!