सलाम दोस्ती!

हर एक हिन्दुस्तानी की तरह, पिछले कुछ दिनों से मुझे भी एक अजीब सी घुटन महसूस हो रही थी कभी-कभी तो ऐसा लगता है मानो ये देश लोकतंत्र नहीं, अपितु भयतंत्र, भूखतंत्र या भ्रष्टाचार तंत्र हो जिसमे जिसकी लाठी उसकी भैंस वाली कहावत पल-पल चरितार्थ हो रही है
ये देश लोकतंत्र न हो के एक ऐसा तंत्र बन गया है जहाँ ताकतवर जो चाहे कर सकता है, जिसे चाहे जान से मार सकता है, जिसे चाहे धमका सकता है, और न जाने क्या - क्या कर सकता है, जो आपकी और मेरी कल्पना से भी परे हैं मैंने कुछ चीजो को कल्पना से परे इसलिए बताया क्योंकि, कोई मनुष्य योनी में जन्मा व्यक्ति क्या अपनी बेटी से भी कम उम्र की लड़की को वासना की दृष्टि से देख सकता है ? हम कहेंगे नहीं , ये तो पशु पक्षियों में ही हो सकता है, लेकिन इस देश में जो सनातन परमपरा का अनुयायी होने का दंभ भरता है एसेलोग भी हैं और वो इतने ताकतवर है की न्यायपालिका उनके हाथों की कठपुतली और अफसर शाही उनकी नौकर है विधान पालिका मानो उनकी किसी पूर्व जन्म से ही कर्जदार है इसलिए उनके सामने बोलने यो तो उनकी खिलाफत करने का साहस उसमे नहीं है संसद में एसे मुदों पे बहस के दोरान हमारे प्रतिनिधि एसे प्रतिक्रिया करते हैं जैसे मंदारी का खेल देख कर तमाशबीन
पिछले वर्ष एक गुर्जर आन्दोलन के दोरान हुई कुछ आगजनी की घटनाओ को देख कर उच्चतम न्यायलय ने उसे राष्ट्रीय शर्म की संज्ञा दी थी क्या उससे पहले कभी किसी ने राष्ट्र को शर्मिंदा नहीं किया, और क्या उस दिन के बाद हम, हमारे राष्ट्र और समाज की इज्जत करना सिख गए हैं, तो फिर आज वो न्यायालय क्यों चुप है ये घटना राष्ट्र के लिए नहीं बल्कि मानवता के लिए शर्म है जिस न्याय व्यवस्था की उचतम न्यालय अगवाई करता है उस पूरी की पूरी व्यवस्था के लिए घोर शर्म है ये व्यवस्था कभी किसी कमजोर को न्याय दे ही नहीं सकती क्योंकि यहाँ ताकतवरों की लिस्ट इतनी लम्बी है की उनका बचाव करते करते ही सालों साल बीत जाते हैं डॉक्टर पंवार ने कितना सही लिखा है ' जी करता है फूल चढ़ा दूँ, लोक तंत्र की अर्थी पर'

लेकिन इन सब के बीच कोई ऐसा भी है जो पिछले दो दशकों से इस अर्ध मृत पड़े तंत्र को जगाने की कोशीश कर रही हैं अति विपरीत परिस्तिथियों में रह कर उन्हें सह कर भी जिन्होंने एक दोस्त का फ़र्ज़ निभाया जिन्होंने लगातार १९ साल तक न्याय के बंद पड़े दरवाजों में से भी हम सब को इक रौशनी की किरण दिखाई धन्य है रुचिका जिसे आराधना जैसी दोस्त मिली, सलाम दोस्ती !!!

Small states vs. Large states

There is an old proverb which says United we stand together, divided we fell apart. But at times, life poses such a peculiar condition in front of us that we find it not only difficult but harmful to stay together. Current developments in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh state have created the more or less the same kind of situation. People of one part of the state want, united Andhra, whereas those belonging to telangana region want their region to be declared as a separate state, which prior to the consolidation of Andhra region was a different territory having under the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Since independence we have seen many movements seeking separate statehood, mostly on the basis of language, which resulted in the formation of state re organization committee and then different states on the basis of language.
When this absurd and divisive idea of division on the basis of language started falling apart, then a new wave of creation of separate states on the basis of developmental issues arouse. Remember, the main divisive power in Europe was the languages and despite that, while dividing states on linguistic basis our democracy didn’t learn any lesson and agreed upon to divide the country on the basis of language.
This ‘hit and trial’ and proactive approach has created nothing but chaos in our society. Had we decided to resolve any issue at one go despite solving only a part of it and tried to analyze the root cause of a particular problem, we as a nation would have been a more robust and cohesive society. But, this approach of taking political benefit out of any issue, irrespective of the volatility of the matter has left us so divided and frustrated that I don’t see any chance of reversing it (under current circumstances).

This is for the kind information of all of those intellectuals, who say that how many parts we are going to create out of this nation, that United States of America having a population of only around 300 millions has a setup of 50 states. Some of the European countries are in fact smaller than most of our states.
I belong to a state, which is projected as one of the developed state in our country; still a part of it (Ahirwal) is one of the most backward regions of this nation. Believe me or not, this backwardness is among all sphere of life be it educational, economical or political. So, if a part of such a small state can be left underdeveloped, I can very well imagine the condition of Vidarbh, Telangana or Bundelkhand.
I am not saying that creation of smaller states is the only option, but creation of a cadre of value based politician who are unbiased and impartial in their approach of development seems to be quite futuristic. We need a brand of politician who don’t categorize on the basis of constituency, region, language, caste and religion but consider the entire state as their own, especially when they become CM or ministers. In current scenario, any minister or CM could not rise above their own constituencies; forget about the region around that particular constituency to be developed.

“Either you give me my share, as I deserve or let the division to be a learning experience”

Concept of Social business

Yesterday on December 09, 2009, I was lucky enough to watch a live broadcasted lecture by Professor Md. Yunus on the concept of social businesses. Mr. Yunus, a noble laureate known for his social entrepreneurial achievements across the globe and in south Asia in particular. What he dreamt about and got that converted in realty was quite impossible for most of us across the south Asia.
Actually all our financial institutions are built on such an anti poor economic theories that a poor can never take benefit of these institutions, whereas those having enough money to show in their accounts are welcomed by them. This principle in itself suggests that the banks or lending institutions exist not for the needy but for those who already possess enough money. Going by their (financial institution) theory of lending money to an individual, poor or needy people would not have ever been able to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty.
It is the concept of Mr. Yunus which once might have been seen as not a long lasting one, gave the confidence and monetary help required to every needy, capable and confident individual who wanted to come out of poverty. We all know the story after that Grameen Bank became a revolution in micro financing and changed the fate of millions of poor people of Bangladesh. The ‘not a long lasting one’ concept became a case study of management, banking and financial institutions. It showed us a ray of hope at time when United Nations and other developed countries were left out of ideas to cope up with increasing rate of poverty and its consequences in the world.
Then came the idea of social business, a business not just for the profit of any organization’s shareholders and its promoters but for the well being of society at large. His idea of a different stock exchange for all social business companies is itself a striking one, then to create as many entrepreneurs as possible rather than having so many profit making companies and so on & so forth.
I think the idea or dream of having a world with social businesses of the drivers of economy is a wonderful, path breaking, innovative and real one. When south Asia is the home of maximum number of illiterate & poor people, when we accounts for the maximum percentage of malnourished children in any region, when the rate of increase of patients suffering from some deadly diseases like HIV AIDS is higher in this region, then the only way ahead to combat to all these future challenges is nurturing of social businesses in south Asia. Because, social business is then, the only way forward to come out of the deadly disease of our society – which we call as poverty.

Policemen or hooligans

Dated: 25th & 26th July 2005.
I wrote these feelings about four & half years back on 25/26.07.2005 when, my pain and revolt against the system was at its peak. Yesterday while searching some of my old documents, I found this paper and decided to put it on the blog so that I can consolidate my previous writings at one place.

“A few months back, an MNC had suspended its four workers and relieved nearly forty workers from their job. The so called negotiation took place between workers and the company in the presence of state government. But as we know, any negotiation between the powerful and under privileged had to be in the favour of powerful.
After this failure of negotiation, nobody had expected that any demonstration of this scale would take place and would take a violent turn.
Now, what happened at the demonstration site is strongly condemnable and unjustified as there is no place for violence in a peaceful demonstration. So, I totally condemn the act of workers when they beat up some policemen and DSP who, at that point in time were on duty. But this also shows a sheer lack of proper planning and anticipation about the scale of demonstration. At the first place, police could have used water cannon or tear gas or any other appropriate medium to disperse the workers gathering when they started getting violent. On the contrary what they did is the most brutal act of police on common men, showing Live on television.
This incident reminded me the brutality and inhuman approach of British police in Jalianwala Bagh. I can establish a simple analogy between the incidents which took place 86 years ago and on 25.07.2005. Police of the so called ‘largest democracy’ of the world acted in the most brutal and barbaric way on such a gathering of people. But what happened on next day i.e. 26th July is just stunning. I have never seen such kind of irresponsible statement in Loksabha. Mr. Home Minister described the damage of Police but did not mention about the condition of workers who are lying in various hospitals and relative of some workers searching for their family members in nearby hospitals. I think prior to making the statement in Loksabha he should have watched the media clips of the incident, because the clips are showing hundreds of workers were beaten up by the police.
One more point which is to be noted over here is that in a state like Haryana, where police barely get the freedom/ option to use its force excessively, so when they got it they did not want to waste it. Let this platoon / battalion of HP be stationed anywhere in J&K, NE or Naxalite affected areas so that the policemen can know the real meaning of policing. Otherwise also, our CPFs are finding it very difficult to cope with terrains of insurgent areas so why not these policemen of HP be posted there because they seems to be very aggressive and active in their duty. Then we’ll see their activeness and aggression.
This incident clearly shows how the capitalist, through the political establishment have captured the power and how our machinery act on the hands of capitalists. Although we are making economic development but the social and political development are no where in the scene. Unless and until we achieve the latter, India, which our freedom fighters have dreamt about, shall remain a dream.”

VIPs & The common citizen of India

Today morning when I tuned in my television set for morning news, I got shocked. Well this was a new low in the so called VIP culture which has been flourishing in this supposed to be a people's ‘Democracy’.
A kidney patient died outside the PGI Chandigarh because, security personnel did not allow him to move in hospital. And the reason behind this denial for entry is that security was tightened and common citizens were not allowed to enter in hospital because of the Mr. Prime Minister’s visit to the Panjab University.
I know Mr. Prime Minister is such a great and simple person that, if he had got any whisper about these restrictions of common people entry in hospital, he would have intervened. But most of bureaucrats and legislature have forgotten the constitutional privilege given to ordinary citizen. These government officials follow red-tapism at its extreme and today it took a life. Shouldn’t all these guilty officials should be booked for culpable homicide.

Although constitution provides equal rights to each one of us but we have been treated differently depending upon our access to money or power. We can justify some sort of security reason for some of our higher dignitaries and special attention given to them. But nothing can be justifiable be it security reason or something else at the cost of a human life.
Not only this, in our society we create our own VIPs depending on the occasion and capacity of organizer and VIP. Be it a religious place or any other small gathering we create our own VIPs and treat them differently at the cost of inconvenience to common man. It is a matter of great surprise that some VIPs who are treated differently at a small function may not be a VIP at all in any other function. I think it is high time that we abandon this culture totally, remove VIP chairs, VIP gallery, VIP pass, VIP roads (marg)! And start treating every one as same citizen under the law of constitution. Only those having security threats should be allowed to take the privilege of these VIP benefits rest all of us are same and ought to be treated as same.

Enough is enough...

I don’t know what I should call it... But when I saw those images of PT Usha, I did not feel sad in fact I felt humiliated as if we have lost a big tournament against pakistan.
These bureaucrats who were involved in this bizarre should not be let off for just apologies but should be punished. They haven’t mistreated PT Usha only but the entire nation has felt bad and humiliated. Every Indian has given her such a respect & love that we call her udanpari. If someone like her stature is getting this kind of treatment from these SAI officials who consider themselves as the all & all of SAI, we can easily imagine the treatment which other youngsters receive form the administration.
After the incident, do these apologies make any sense, I don’t think so. On the one hand we are wasting millions of rupees on the commonwealth games whereas on the other hand we can’t give accommodation to one of our best athlete. Isn’t it ridiculous and painful? There is no use of wasting millions of rupees in the so called pride of India unless we develop a sporting culture here, which seems to be very futuristic.

Haryana Veer and Shahidi Diwas

“Thousands laid down their lives so that our country can have a free breathe today…let’s don’t forget their sacrifice. Let’s salute them on Haryana Veer and Shahidi Diwas” 

I got this SMS from one of my friend Kuldeep Chhikara, otherwise I would have forgotten the day despite trying to remember the same, since the beginning of this month. 

'Haryana Veer and Shahidi Diwas’ is observed every year in the memory of those who had sacrificed their lives for the pride of Haryanavis’ and for the sake of our motherland at large. On this day one of the greatest freedom fighter of 1857 uprising Rao Raja Tula Singh Bahadur (aka Rao Tula Ram) breathed his last in Kabul, Afghanistan. 

At times I really wonder as from where these great sons of Bharat Mata would get this inspiration and how they were motivated by their inner energy to fight against the odds of enemy. Every soldier who fought for us be it in 1857 or in wars against China & Pakistan is alive in our memories. 

I hope in future also we will provide the great sons to our motherland from this soil, a part of which is called as ‘nursery of soldiers’. Let’s pledge on this auspicious day of sacrifice and pride that we wouldn’t let our ancestors down and will serve this great nation till our last breathe. 

Vande Matram

Is this the Austerity or a jokeon us???

Austerity - extreme plainness and simplicity of style or appearance.
Although there is no need to provide dictionary meaning of this word here but may God give our politician that much of knowledge so that they can understand it.
Some hundred years back Swami Vivekananda had defined the way of life of Indians by putting it in a phrase as ‘simple living and high thinking’. These politicians are not only making fun of this phrase said by swami Vivekananda but the common citizen of this nation who can’t afford this extravagant life is also feeling poorer. When more than 70% of our population is getting only Rs.20 in a day how could 60% of our elected representatives are crorepatis.
The shocking reality which published in a newspaper report is that the increase in their wealth in the last five years is from 100% to 9100%! In the most recent past when the congress people were talking about this austerity drive, Rahul Gandhi’s one day expenditure while he was on Tamilnadu tour was around Rs.10,000,000/-. There are many more stories of this so called austerity drive but I wouldn’t discuss those stories. The point which I would like to discuss over here is the Indian way of life and austerity drive.
Does austerity only means traveling in economy class by air or AC coaches in train. Then what about those who are traveling in overcrowded general trains and local buses. If eating in a 3 star or 1 star or non star hotel for that matter what about those 200 million people who go to bed partially hungry every night. And moreover what about those 40% kids of this country who are malnourished and their condition is only better than their sub-Saharan African counterparts.
This all is happening in this country for the past 62 years where these austerity drives were there. The situation in Vidarbha, Telangana and Bundelkhand regions is worse for so many years what did these elected representatives have done for them.
There are some good men among them like Mr. P. Chidambaram who travel with minimum people also if required he drives his own car. But he never made a hue and cry about that. Country is under severe drought crisis and here we are getting drama from the ruling class. This is a sheer show off only thing to see is its duration, because they are too away from the Indian life style that it would be very difficult for them to show this showoff for along time.

“Comfort” is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being “comfortable.”
Swami Vivekananda

62 years of an administratively failed state

About sixty years ago when on August 15, 1947 India got her so called freedom from British rule, 300 million citizen of the nation got an assurance from their political leaders that their fate is going to change. Our ancestors who fought for this freedom from one generation to other were busy in celebrating the freedom for some initial years. But soon the idea of a ‘welfare’ state failed and various reasons were suggested.
No body realized and accepted the fact that the administrative setup designed by Britishers was for forcefully rule the country. In that administrative setup emphasis was on the ruling elite’s welfare rather than on the general public. That setup was to exploit the masses with little scope for humanity and welfare of the fellow citizens.
Now after 62 years of transfer of power (not independence) from Britishers to some influential Indians, nothing actually changed except those who are the caretaker of this setup. The bureaucratic setup was so complex to be understood by common people of our country

Defining Hindutva – A national political approach

After thousands of years of this great Sanathan philosophy it is strange to see that a body supposed to give its ruling on law & order has defined Hindutva (1995 Supreme Court of India). Most strange part of the story is that still the so called intellectuals define Hindutva according to their own convenience and benefits, be it political or religious. I think the time has come that either we do an introspection of this journey of thousands of years and come with true Vedic / Sanathan philosophy or stop boasting about our association with this culture. Reason for this need of introspection is simple, what we see in today’s Hindu culture (not about other religion) is not what has been suggested in our Vedic culture. Once we come close to that Sanathan culture then political, social and cultural unity will become more achievable. Current day Hindutva which allows hundreds of worship methods with their own variations with an intrinsic nature to accept every variation as a way to reach God, should either accept other religious methods also in its fold or move towards the true Vedic philosophy. I think this strength of Hinduism has become its weakness because in order to accommodate every one we have been stretching Hinduism for so many years. This extreme level of accommodation without really judging its validity and authenticity has started doing harm to the oldest civilization, which was there before the beginning of any civilization.

Once we’ll start moving towards the unification in our religious practices, the unification in our cultural, political and social sphere will follow.

Corporate Social Responsibility & Volunteerism - Opportunities in India

Although the basic idea of volunteerism had started in India thousands of years back but let me accept that the current development in this field and providing a professional look to volunteerism has all been done by westren countries. Same is the case of the social responsibilities undertaken by business man in India, whether to provide water facilities for a village or helping a poor family in various rituals or ceremonies like marriages businessmen in India were always helped the needy people.
Although we can boast of the above stated ponts but reality of the hour is that both volunteerism and CSR in today's India are unexplored and thats why contains vast oppurtunities for both social worker and countrymen as provided by the right direction and momentum these two areas could change the fate of this nation.