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.”