The Buzz & Beyond

Of late, I have been observing blogs ridiculing the celebrations of Indians for winning medals at Beijing Olympics. When our neighbor China has almost got 50 odd Gold medals silently, we are going over-board for a single Gold medal won. Why can’t India get more medals in such sporting events? Is this something to do with the race? If so, how can Chinese, who do not differ much from our race, can get more Gold medals and display the world that they are the real emerging Super Power? I do agree that we are going overboard in celebrating the wins at Olympics, but we should not forget the efforts put in by our sportsmen in these events. Remember India who ranked second in the 1951 Asian Games, slipped to 4th rank in 1982 Asian Games. This again slipped to 8th slot in the previous 2 Asian Games. It does not mean that Indian sports arena is deteriorating. We remained stagnant while others improved. While we ridicule the celebrations on winning these medals, we should throw light on the foll...

The nuclear deal issue has taken a back seat, courtesy, misrule of our Govt in Jammu and shorter memory of public affairs among us. The signing of deal was supposed to be the shot in the arm of the present government for which they staged a mockery of democracy in nation’s interest. As expected the countries of NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) board have thrown the spoke on the wheels of progress on waiver draft pertaining to the nuclear deal between India and USA. Already this Govt is charged for having limited India's strategic options through a pact (that makes conducting a nuclear test difficult) and now with the opposition from NSG, India may be forced to accept new multilateral commitments as to empower the deal. The government might find it increasingly difficult to sell such a deal at home. The opposition from NSG was expected by everyone, however, the experts in the Government failed to foresee the fiasco that happened at NSG. This Government had 3 full years to do home work...

Tolerance is the appreciation of diversity and the ability to live & let others live. It is the ability to exercise a fair attitude towards those whose opinions, practices, religion, nationality etc., differ from one's own. Tolerance is not just agreeing with one another or remaining indifferent in the face of injustice, but rather showing respect for the essential humanity in every person. Intolerance is the failure to appreciate & respect the practices, opinions & beliefs of another group. For instance, intolerances over issues could be of identity (caste, religion), self-determination, statehood, return right for refugees, etc. The result is continuing inter-group violence. Violence is the exertion of force so as to injure (physically or mentally) or abuse. The word is used to describe a destructive action, forceful and intentional injury to people, damage to property and verbal & emotional abuse towards others. With the lack of experience, individuals base the...

if you ask me whether we are willing to build a corruption-free society, then my answer is NO! Corruption has been, is and will be the biggest problem of India. People’s will forms democracy. If this is based on corruption, then stigma against corruption goes absent. Under such circumstances, the morale of the people goes down. They condone and develop tolerance. Corruption can be defined as using the public office for private gain. It is anti-poor; anti-national & anti-development. More than the taker, it is the giver who commits a serious crime in corruption. We have accepted corruption as a way of our life. We failed to fight against corruption. Might is right in a corrupted democracy. In our society, amassing wealth through corruption is a way of demonstrating one’s competence. This continues as it is not questioned. Adding insult to injury is, not only it is questioned but such people are respected. This gives legitimacy to amassment of wealth by wrong means. Corruption is ei...

The existing Indian educational system neither parts knowledge nor provides values to the future generation. It is unfortunate that such situation prevails in a land that had Gurukul system of education and had Universities like Takshila, Ujjain and Nalanda centuries ago. The limitations of the present system are: ¨ It produces literates but not educated ones ¨ Intelligence is decided by one’s memory power and not by aptitude or application ¨ Lack of encouragement to creative thinking / research activities ¨ Lack of infrastructural facilities; lack of motivation to faculty ¨ Lack of moral education ¨ Sidelining Meritocracy in the name of Reservation ¨ Considering Educational institutions as business centers The present system produced likes of M. S. Swaminathan, Dr.Varghese Kurien, Dr.Abdul Kalam - but they existed despite this system and not because of the system. Education should inspire, make one free, make one experiment & ask questions. It s...

The ban on SIMI is lifted, courtesy, lethargic approach from the authorities who failed to provide sufficient proof of their anti-national activities. Repeatedly, our police forces confirmed the involvement of SIMI in the recent blasts that ripped our cities. However, they were unable to produce sufficient proof that goes as a surprise. SIMI started as a student wing in 1977 just to liberate India from the impact of western culture, later slowly transformed into a terrorist organization. It perceived RSS as enemy of Muslim & to tackle it, it joined hands with Islamic terrorist groups. The very purpose of founding the organization got deviated with time. SIMI was learnt to be the mother organization for Al-Umma that was behind the serial blasts of Coimbatore to kill L K Advani. SIMI was suspected to be involved in 2003 Mumbai blasts that killed 55 people. After the 9/11 incident, SIMI was banned and a periodical review of the ban was suggested. Many SIMI members were arrested under...

No longer in India, talent has a relevance to the awards gifted. I intentionally use the phrase gifted as awards are nowadays gifted away as token of reciprocating gesture for some favor extended. Political implications are always there. You got it. This blog is about honoring Mahendra Singh Dhoni with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Please do not ask me what Rajiv Gandhi has to do with Sports in India – I am clueless and all I know is Congress always maintained to name every action of theirs in their leaders’ name so the people would not forget them. Dhoni is second to Sachin Tendulkar who was the only other cricketer to be awarded with this title. By all means, this award to Dhoni is too early. Dhoni has a long way to go and he has to prove himself as a good keeper, good batsman or a good captain. I do agree that media hype is there for him and even if he fails, that has been hailed as a big achievement. Dhoni is yet to prove himself in all aspects. If at all the Government is in...