The Telangana Turmoil

The case for a separate state for Telangana is a classic case of government politicizing a class discrimination of highest degrees. The movement is regarded as separatist but there is more to it than meets the eyes.

When electoral, democratic and legal methods get crushed by those in power, not many options are left for the oppressed. The oppressed in this case are the minority Telenagana people who have been, post-independence, voted out and ousted in the Andra majority regime in the state of AP.

Resorting to “undemocratic” means is the last resort of this movement. Government needs to come up with a better answer than setting up committee and delaying the call on this. There is a difference between fragmentation and restoration when deciding on state boundaries. Telangana just happens to gfall in the latter category 

Murder for 27/-

A man was shot on job on Friday night. The police and the intelligence seemed to have given up for there were no clues to track the perpetrators at the “adulterated” crime scene. The toll management has shrugged off giving compensation to the victim’s family so far and is trying to shrug off the incident by every possible mean now.

The lack of accountability of private bodies catering to a civic liability can produce disastrous results. All companies should come under a scanner to provide hospitable working condition for its workers. But they won’t till the time they keep getting away with it.

Eventually, the 280 toll booth operators got back to their cabins and continued their work. They would often be manhandled by commuters. There would be no security to make their work condition any safer. Nor would there be any insurance cover in case something goes wrong. But there would be a CCTV camera to keep a tab on toll attendants but not on the registration plate of the vehicles, sometime carrying criminals.

The Pretense of Generosity

Government is getting too comfortable at pulling the strings of the citizens at its own whims. The relaxation of orders to curb protests at Jantar Mantar and the India Gate highlights this fact. The withdrawal coming within 24 hours of banning protests at prominent public spots in the capital proves that it is just a power gimmick making people realizing their ‘place’.

The imposition of Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code was never justified in the first place. Certainly not for the peaceful protests and strikes that were expected after the sham that was made of the Lokpal Bill. The lifting of the sanctioned curb before the parliament session starts on August 1 is just a democratic mockery we are being fed.

It is in our hands to make the most of such relaxations. A little conviction of the reform should all one should need to bring down the government to justice. The window to the path of the revolution has just opened up.

Horn NOT OK Please

Stuck in a traffic jam? Getting bored of repetitive music on the FM? Frustrated with the vehicle in front for taking a few extra seconds to stir in motion? The solution is right at your fingertips, a button press away - HONK! Honk away your miseries. Honk for a better future…

A future full of physiological and psychological health issues like hypertension, high stress levels, sleep disturbances, hearing losses, stress and what not.  But thank goodness that the worst affected of all these effects are the children. Add to the ill-effects-list learning impairment and cognitive development delays and it’s a perfect recipe for a perfect future generation.

A little unfair that us adults who actually contribute the most to the noise pollution levels are digging graves for their own kids by cultivating such mannerism and lifestyle.

But why think of all of this? Honking is totally worth the hell we create for them.

Appeared in HT Edge on July 11, 2011

One less Uttar Pradesh

Misery and plight of seven females and their families has turned into an orgy of vile political drama. The accused are absconding from the law and the victimized girls are committing suicides. While this happens political battleground is turning into a powerhouse of allegations and constitutional mockery. Assurances are pouring in, amendments are being proposed, number are being justified by statistics and strict actions are being promised but the most objective step towards imparting justice is still not being taken…

Welcome to Uttar Pradesh, the rape capital of the country.

[This article has been published in The Viewspaper. Read the rest here]

In Deep Water

Two years in term and there is no respite for UPA government. Strings of accusations keep pouring in as new facts get unearthed every day.

Dayanidhi Maran’s involvement in 2G scam is one such skeleton UPA can’t wait to bury to prove a point of governance integrity. But compromising Maran would be a too little too late response for absolution from all that UPA has managed to get into.

Maran just happens to be a piece of jigsaw puzzle that will ultimately solve to be corruption at absolute government levels. Without involvement at the top it’s impossible to pull off a scam of such magnitude and cover it up for so long.

The only saving grace for this government can be through a thorough cleanup of all its deeds. Waiting for CBI to prosecute and take action is just getting too tiring for the entire country.

The Bad Apple

In the information age, forcing copyright policing in the crudest manner is both undesirable and unacceptable. Apple’s patent to disable video recording in places like concerts and live entertainment reeks of extreme level of intrusion in end user’s usage freedom.

Funny how those with power to dictate terms take measures to make extreme things possible, like publishing user’s private data publicly (Facebook). But trying to restrict the content one wants to keep and capture is deemed as an offense to be tackled desperately at every level possible.

This “feature” is bound to create so much discontent that overriding Apple’s restrictions via any necessary means will become commonplace. The people willing to go the “wrong way” might just increase. There have to be better and more concrete ways to avoid video capture at such events than installing a big brother on your phones.

Scarred v/s Inspired

Osama Bin Laden, the poster boy of al-Qaeda, was the deemed face of terrorism for a major part of the world. His death came in just in time to restore Obama Administration’s popularity index but too late for being a significant turning point in the history of the world.

I believe while Laden’s death stirs things up a bit, it achieves nothing definitive. It is certainly not the end of the social ideology sparking terrorism, neither is it revolutionary enough to restore what was lost in all these pressing years.

The intrusive, precautionary measures of security are already set in stone at this point. The presumably disconnected terror efforts of al-Qaeda can be thwarted given how the world has geared up since 9/11. Al-Qaeda might be spurred up after Osama’s martyrdom but there is little it can do with the zero margin of error rest of the world has learned to live with.

Corruption Carnage

Anna Hazare took the cue for the revolution in the biggest corrupt democracy of the world. A five day hunger strike, protests enveloping the entire country and support of millions finally brought government to its knees and yield to what always was constitutionally ours.

There were two kinds of citizens India witnessed over the past week – those who wanted the corruption to end and became a part of the movement and the others who wanted the corruption to end but had given up any hope of reform. For the latter, the government’s submission should be an eye opener to the difference a taxpayer’s involvement can make in a democracy.

The battle is half won but we should be ready to return to the battlefield when the time demands. The deep-rooted venality can be prevented to be a part of our being. If conscience cannot show us the way, a 72 year old man’s ideology and commitment might.

[Appeared in HT Edge on April 11, 2011]

The Tortured Reality

PMO, Civil Hospital will set up a board to conduct an examination on tortured teenager. DCP claims that the boy said in court that he did not have any “problems”. But all I can wonder is what was going through the police’s minds when they were mercilessly beating up the 13 year old in custody.

Gurgaon Police’s manner of persecuting an alleged motorcycle theft is appalling both constitutionally and morally. It reeks of abuse and corruption of power and helplessness of those at receiving end. The ultimate insult to the victim is the way this incident is tried to be shrugged off.

A few hollow words of damage control are not sufficient, what’s needed here is a conviction of reform. Reform of those in power and reform of citizens who let it go because it didn’t happen to them. Pressing public bodies for accountability is imperative else the offices of power, instead of serving its citizens, will be debased to dictating them.

[Appeared in HT Edge on April 04, 2011]

Reservation Reform

Jat agitation for demanding reservation under the OBC category is baseless, preposterous and unconstitutional. At the same time, it is a logical derivation from the government’s policies right from the implementation of caste based reservation of 1951. On one hand, demands of Jat community is a mockery of the basic right to equality but on the other they are just an echo of the voice of bodies governing us.

A thing that was to be in effect for ten years has now become a nightmare for the entire nation. It has been toyed with for vote banks, held government hostage to violence and protests of various castes, tempered with for easy jobs, brought in inefficiency in the entire structure, propagated the caste differences and brought resentment to majority of the nation. Where is the real advantage of reservation, when the only thing it has “improved” is the 90% increase in backward communities count since 1991’s Mandal report?

“I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in service…the moment we encourage the second-rate, we are lost”, Mr. Nehru’s words find little support in the doing of his party that has ruled the country for a major part of post-independence era.  The Gujjar violence in 2008 and now the Jat agitation can just be the stir before the storm that is bound to envelope the entire nation in time to come.

The demands of the Jat community are, in a way, a slap on the government’s face. Simply put, it asks the government to roll back the entire quota based regime or alternatively include the “getting backward” community of Jat in OBC category. Given how the country has functioned in recent times, use of force seemed only viable way to bring the government down to its knees to heed to their demands.

The problem here is not the re-routed trains and the unrest it created in northern India, the problem here is government’s failure to justify its policies and contain the discontent they have had spread. Reservation certainly has not proved to be the solution but a problem most definitely. Why not have 10 years without any caste based reservations this time around and see how things turn out? Why not help the poor and those in genuine need this time around for seeding the greater good of the country.

India is flocked with numerous castes and differences. The government cannot appease them all but it has a liability to do the right thing, which should be preserving the basic rights of the constitution first. It will require courage, firmness and determination – a challenge more than no other issue in India can probably pose. But then, doing the right thing is never easy, it is just worth every bit of fight put and every bit of sacrifice made.

Blacked out

“What the hell is going on in this country?” the question Supreme Court slapped the government apparently found a lukewarm response in its doing. Hassan Ali Khan walks a free man on a conditional bail still evading a whopping 2.7% of India’s entire GDP.

Ali happens to be just the tip of the iceberg of the black money fiasco that has enveloped the entire nation. The spineless response of the government to this issue has stripped down the whole machinery of the trust it deserves.

If the required stand is not taken, the disgruntled masses will revolt. And when the common man steps in to take charge, dynasties perish. It is about time the government should open its eyes and see what its inaction has done. It is the only way it can hope to restore the faith of the people it has lost.

[Appeared in HT Edge on March 14, 2011]

Centrally Vile and Corrupted

Nothing can be worse than eighteen year old doing that comes to bite you.

Six months back, while protests went on, CVC was sworn-in and a blind eye was turned to an entire nation waiting for answers.

Mr. P. J. Thomas’ past and Supreme Courts verdict can prove to be the last nail in the coffin of ruling spree of Congress. While Mr. Prime Minister cut a sorry figure, the opposition slammed any chance of voters overcoming by their well-known feeling of “letting go”.

The episode is downright sad but portrays the ugly face of Indian Politics. This ugliness is rooted deep within because it is a result of over 63 years of unquestioned plundering of public resources and shameless mockery of the constitution.

SC’s ruling has given the much needed resistance to those in power. It proved that no matter how high the office is, it has to be morally upright first to serve the nation.

Redeeming Libya

On February 15, 200 people started out a protest in Benghazi against arrest of Libyan human rights activist Fethi Tarbel. Five days in, the demonstrations erupting in various part of the country have found violent resistance from Anti-al-Gaddafi forces. Libya has, till now, seen over a 100 casualties in what has been deemed to be a part of “2010–2011 Arab world protests”.

As people pour in the streets to fight for their rights, the government is finding ways to restrict internet to curb the spread of this civil war. More comprehensive ‘information blackout’ was followed by troops firing live ammunitions and fierce clashes occurring with the protesters.

Such protests should be a realization for the world to see the hardships the government in these countries has inflicted upon its people. In an effort to create a civil and peaceful world it is important to support the restoration of fundamental human rights. Along with the protests at home, international pressure should persuade the government in these countries to give in to the rightful demand of the citizens.

People are not meant to be rendered crippled under the whims of those in power.

The Democratic Vail

Dear People of Egypt,

Freedom doesn’t come cheap. If ever it does it loses the respect it deserves. It is needed to be fought for again and again. We know this because we are a vestige of ‘free’ generation of the great Indian democracy. A generation which is deemed free but is slave to the czars of corruption and political bureaucracy.

We applaud the civil disobedience movement that you started. Your struggle didn’t stir the government in your country only but also helped other dormant minds wake up to the larger meaning of liberty. It made people comprehend things beyond the democratic fallacies and it made regimes around the world realize the power of people.

Time demands that we take a cue from your rebellion and fight for what rightfully is ours. The true meaning of freedom and democracy can only be realized when elements like corruption, constitutional inequality and economic disparity can be disarmed.

It’s tough but freedom is worth every bit of the fight we put.

Long live the revolution,
The People of India

[Appeared in HT Edge on February 14, 2011]
(Unfortunately under wrong credits which was later rectified)

The big fat obesity problem

According to The Lancet report, world obesity rate in adults has almost doubled from 1980 to present. However, no direct correlation could be established between blood pressure/cholesterol levels and obesity because of feasibility of screening and treatment in high-income countries. Despite that, the journal did raise some serious lifestyle issues. 

The major cause for obesity is proven to be excessive food intake and lack of physical activity. This way of life is not just restricted to adults but also catching up among teenagers. In India alone, the biggest perpetrator of such unhealthy dietary, the fast food industry, was found to be growing at an alarming 41% in comparison to its 4.8% worldwide growth in ’06.*

Before obesity becomes an epidemic, it is imperative that it find some resistance that foils its spread further. Youngsters should restrict the consumption of fast food before it becomes a medical problem in their prime. Widespread limiting of the intake of such food could ultimately restrict the alarmingly growing fast food industry. Along with it regular exercise and workout, as elementary as walking, could further help a healthy case.

* The stats are taken from Wikipedia.

Murder of a Nation

Ishrat Jahan was murdered in cold blood in police custody in Ahmedabad while her mother and six siblings in Mumbai waited for her to return home. Four human lives and a false claim was all that took for winning some promotions and awards, the actual intent behind staging the encounter. 

While probe hangs between Headley’s assertion and Special Investigation Team’s findings, many serious doubts linger on police’s credibility. An institution endowed with such powers can never be trusted when the rich and influential offenders walk free but a common man is qualified as an easy target. 

It’s about time when the idea that such incidents cannot just be shrugged off, should sink in our minds. An organ of the machinery, that our nation is, is going cripple. It’s imperative that it be repaired before it brings the whole system down.