123 of nuclear deal

The reason why the 123 Agreement is important is more than the technical reasons; it is used or abused for political reasons. Whether one knows about it or not, but could not stop from making a comment on it. In 1974 after the Pokhran tests, all foreign assistances stopped immediately, that crippled our indigenous nuclear program. Since then, India pursued its independent nuclear program and refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The US administration had to change its own laws, which barred it from any nuclear cooperation with a country like India, a non-NPT member with an atomic weapons program. The waiver-law to begin nuclear collaboration with India was the Hyde Act. Having got the waiver, Indian & American officials had to negotiate a bilateral agreement; known as the 123 Agreement. It is the section 123 of US Atomic Energy Act 1954 that deals with nuclear co-operation of US with any foreign country.

Positive Points:

This deal would restore India's right to access its nuclear requirements in the international community.

It provides one time exception to India for keeping the nuclear weapons without signing the NPT.

It overturns a 3 decade-old US ban on supplying India with nuclear fuel and technology (in reciprocation,India must separate its civilian & military nuclear facilities, and submit civilian facilities to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)).

It strengthens international security by tightening US ties to ally India. It also ensures some of its nuclear industry will undergo international inspection.

India, which relies on imported oil for 70% of its energy needs, needs nuclear power that will help feed its expanding economy.

France, which signed a similar deal with India in February 2006, says the move will help fight climate change and aid non-proliferation efforts.

Negative Points:

Indian nuclear power plants are based on different technology than the technology United States is offering us ( heavy water)

The approval from IAEA and NSG is pending after which US Congress to give the final approval for this deal

It undermines the NPT, which states that only countries which renounce nuclear weapons qualify for civilian nuclear assistance.

It could open the way for a potential arms race in South Asia.

Out of 22, 14 Indian nuclear facilities are civilian. Critics say the pact could make bomb making at the other eight easier, as civilian nuclear fuel needs will be met by the US

Global positioning:

Pakistan, the only other confirmed nuclear power not to have signed the NPT, will sign the deal only if India did.

Pakistan's expanding nuclear program could aggravate the rivalry between us.

China supports Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. Some analysts see the Indo-US deal as part of attempts by the US and China, to shore up influence in South Asia by building up rival arsenals.

The IAEA said in 2004 that Libya and Iran's nuclear programs were based on Chinese technology provided by Pakistan.

This deal would benefit India as we would get access to atomic power reactors and 'dual use' technologies useful for its space, medicine and biotechnology programs. It could also sell its expertise and products. However, India has to place the 14 civilian reactors under safeguards from the IAEA. As a reciprocation gesture, we will be assured of fuel supplies for civilian reactors. Already 6 of our reactors are under safeguard of IAEA. With limited quantities of Uranium, this may be useful to us.

The 123 substantially meets Indian concerns on reprocessing (re-using) spent fuel, assures it of nuclear fuel supplies and crucially, does not stop India's right to test a nuclear device, if required. It permits nuclear trade, transfer of nuclear material, equipment, components and related technology and cooperation in the civil nuclear fuel cycle between India and the US. It allows India to create a reserve of nuclear fuel for each of its civilian reactors and provides guarantees for perpetual supply of fuel in case there is a problem.

Hurdles:

Who would ensure that the fuel supplied for civilian reactors are not used for military purposes (by other countries esp Pakistan)?

What will be the effect on Indian Foreign policy (particularly pertaining to Islamic countries who view US as anti-Islam)?

Politicization of this issue.

BJP initiated it but opposes now because Congress would hijack the credentials for this.

Communists, who are more patriotic to China than India would certainly oppose paving way for smaller parties to bargain hidden agenda in the name of avoiding untimely elections!

Shinijini - Peer Pressure

If it was Scarlet and Arushi sometime back, it is the turn of Shinjini Sengupta now. For those who could not figure out, let me give an introduction. Shinjini Sengupta is one of the millions of aspirers who hunt numerous channels of Indian Satellite Television to take part in the so-called reality shows. Unfortunately, Shinjini is not as strong as others to take the comments hurled on her, she fell into coma at this tender age. News channels as usual without getting into details have started blaming the judges and the harsh comments they use!

Reality Show is the name coined for “talent” show. However, the fact is neither there is reality nor there is a display of talent in these shows. All of us are aware that the events are stage-managed and a repeat of rehearsals. The irony is, the winners of such shows have no relation to talent. The winners are chosen not by judges but by the common public who lack total knowledge on the subjects. I can’t assure you that the judges are right choices. The public with the weapon of voting in hand always goes against the judges. Emotion wins (as we are famous for allowing our heart to rule our brains) and crying is a part & parcel of the show!

A singer does not need to be a sureela but X factor is a must. Or else, you lose! As per this rule, even Lata would fail in these talent contests! The failure of these winners to make it big in any field is a proof to this. The involvement of public serves multi-purpose to the channel owners. Some of them are:.

¨ By means of involvement, they guarantee the viewer-ship and boast of their TRP ratings.
¨ By way of SMS, they ensure revenue (33% from Service providers)
¨ They gage the market on whom to count for the release of future albums!

We need money & fame but without hard-work. We want it faster too! Such shows help us to achieve such goals. Obviously, the future generation, pounces on such opportunities. In olden days, any tussle between judges & the participants or any opinion differences of judges were edited considering decency. Nowadays, only these incidents are repeatedly shown as promotional trailers. As to hog the limelight, they hurl the comments in harsh manner. Audience needs masala so provide it!

The contestants, when they are ready to enjoy privileges of winning should be ready to withstand the abuse hurled on them in the form of comments. One may not know the comments of public may be harsher! Wining and losing are part of the game. It seems the contestants have not realized it. These contests are not their careers. Opinion differs and winning a contest does not measure your talent or success! The history says so! None of the winners of such shows have made it so big barring a few (Shreya, Kunal but those days people did not judge the winners).

These should be explained to contestants and their parents as well! I have already written 3 blogs on the peer pressure applied on Indian Kids and I do not want to repeat them here again. I am not a medical expert but I don’t think one can fall in coma just by a single harsh comment. The girl might be suffering from depression for quite long which the parents would have not observed. More than the fear of failure, the fear of parents does drive the kids to depression. Will the parents realize this? I do agree that the competition is severe. I do have a kid and I am worried when he behaves carelessly. As matured personnel, we need to handle the issue gently.

Though unfortunate, this incident is a lesson to parenting, conducting a contest with right judges, responsible journalism in reporting the facts and not sensationalism. Alas! We failed in all the three. It is the high time we learnt from this.

Past is Past - let us look ahead!

Any journey down the memory lane is enjoying. I played only street cricket still, when we won the Prudential Cup in 1983, I felt as if I were a part of the Indian team! Till 1979, no team had won the West Indies in the Prudential Cup. When Sri Lanka scored a point against West Indies, courtesy rain spoilt match, Sri Lankan captain Tenekon joked that Sri Lanka was the first team to score a point against West Indies.

June 9, 1983, the World Cup-3 started and produced two great upsets of the cup. Zimbabwe aided by Duncan Fletcher beat Australia. The second upset involved India who had won only one match till then beating East Africa in 1975. The game between India and Windies started late due to rains. Yashpal scored 80+ runs and it was Sandhu’s swing sent Greenidge back home. Earlier, Sandhu dismissed Greenidge in a similar fashion at Trinidad. Then it was Madan and Binny who wrapped the rest of the team on 10th of June (as the play continued for the next day) not before Roberts and Garner gave us jitters with a 71 run stand.

The other league games did not worth mentioning, however, the glaring feature being Sunil Gavaskar turning out to be the Lucky- face of India. India lost both the games in which Sunil Gavaskar was rested. Vengsarkar was hit on the chin by Marshall and he was rested for the rest of the world cup.

On June 18, India faced Zimbabwe, who were all set to stage another upset. India was 4 wickets down for mere 9 runs and sooner it was 17 for five. Kapil dev ably supported by Kirmani, Madan and Binny scored a magnificent 175 of 138 balls with 19 fours and 6 sixes. No doubt, it was the mother of all “victory-steered-by-single-man”. Any defeat in Turnbridge Wells would have ruled out India from the race. Still, it was not over. We have to beat Australia to book a berth to semi-Finals. Srikkanth, Yashpal, Patil and Extras helped us to score a win over Australia.

With five wins from six league matches, England was over-confident to discuss their strategy for finals & not to bother about semi-finals. Though they started off well, the brilliant fielding of India put pressure on them. The direct throw by Yashpal to run out Lamb was the pick of the lot. Kirti Azad who had bowled only 2 overs till then was tried against Botham and he responded well by taking his wicket. This match produced highest opening partnership in the World cup-3 for India. Srikkanth & Gavaskar carved out a nice innings followed by Mohinder & Yashpal. However, it was Sandip Patil with his 32 ball knock of 51 made things pretty easier. England took time to come out of the shock and Gower responded saying, “Indians learnt that fielding can win matches and it was Kapildev’s captaincy brought them their deserving victory!”

The following weekend was so special not because it was the last day of my summer vacation but I got a chance to track the Prudential Cup Final. We did not have a television set at home and was hooked onto commentary. I lived in a place then named Tiruvallikkeni (Triplicane of Chennai) where everyone would discuss on any subject for hours together and if it meant cricket, then would discuss for days! So, we did a community-listening of the commentary.




Obviously, the organizers were not enthusiastic as none thought India would play Windies in the final. The turnout was poor as it seemed to be a one-sided match! Old war horse Clive won the toss & chose to field hoping to cash on the early dews. As expected Marshall got rid of Sunil Gavaskar in the 3rd over however, Srikkanth provided some drama as he hooked Roberts for a four. He was met with a faster bouncer now but Cheeka pulled this one now for a six! The third one was a superb cover drive from Cheeka that was belted to four again! In the earlier over he sliced Garner over the slips for a four! In all, Cheeka scored 7 boundaries and a six in his 38. From 100/4, we kept on losing wickets. Thanks to runs from Madan, Kirmani and Sandhu, and of course extras we posted a respectable total of 183.

The result was written on the wall. The entire cricket fraternity knew it’s a cake-walk for Windies! Kapil set a fielding as if it were a Test Match. Then, Sandhu produced the gem of an in-swinger (banana-skin swinger) that deceived Greenidge (for the 3rd time) and hit the stumps. Richards, the master-blaster walked in & started belting all around. In such an over-confident pull that skied high, Kapil ran behind to hold-on the one-of-the-best catches in ODI history! Richards (33 from 28) was out and the score read 50 for 2. Panic prevailed now in Windies camp. Not used to over-cautious approach, Windies started breaking down aided by tight bowling from Binny and Madan. Bacchus was hit on stumps by a direct throw from Srikkanth however; the umpire could not see it as the bowler came in-between. However, this did not cost us much as Bacchus was out next over! Then Dujon and Marshal started to build the innings for Windies.

Then Mohinder was brought into the attack. In a sense of urgency, Dujon played on and the reaction expressed by him told that Windies have already lost the match. After that it was all ritualistic and India wrapped the trophy in an unexpected manner. It was all fine till here!

The lesson we learn from the history is “we do not learn from the history!” When India won the World Cup, we had no stars but we had a team. The team composition was excellent. Contrasting openers one conventional and the other totally opposite, splendid support down the order from Mohinder, Vengsarkar, Yashpal, Patil. It had performing all-rounders in Kapildev, Kirti Azad, Madanlal, and Binny. Kirmani the keeper with useful bat. Seam bowlers who can swing was our weapon. We had disciplined bowlers in Sandhu, Madan, and Binny to exploit the English conditions.

The typical composition won India another trophy in 1985 at Australia against all teams! Alas! After that neither India got a team nor did it win! In today’s team, we have stars but no team. Cricket has become more of money-game than sports!

We, Indians are famous for basking in past glory. We did the same in hockey, we are doing it to Chess and now it is the turn of Cricket! These trophies should be an inspiration to us but we enjoy this as an entertaining episode! Gavaskar was made to sit out when he did not perform whereas we cannot do this to Dhoni or Sachin! Meritocracy had a place and not zonal quota system of selection.

If we are not ready to learn even now, we can do in what we have the mastery (by doing it again and again) – Basking in past glory!

Practising Democracy

Democracy is a form of Governance that is run by the whole population or ruled by the representatives of the population. Or you can say “A Government of the people, for the people by the people.” The main objective of a Government is to provide good governance. The objective of good governance is to provide the citizens freedom, prosperity, peace, protection of their rights, their participation in governance etc., Good governance has nothing to do with the form of governance.

One has to make it clear what attributes the success and failure of the form of Governance – the System or the people who run the system. Irrespective of the problems with the system, if one is determined to provide results, he will. If he decided to exploit the limitations of the system, then he will. When this exploitation happens in democracy, it is the not the ruler alone to be blamed but also its citizens!

I knew little about other countries so I discuss on Indian democracy only. Whether democracy is practiced in its sense is a rhetorical question that needs an answer. I have freedom of expression; or else, I would not be writing such whining blogs blaming Governments and get away easily with that. Peace is present though hijacked at times; however, my participation in governance needs a lot to be desired. I am interested but the politicians have conditioned the arena in such a manner that outsiders would never make an attempt to enter. Democracy has become dynastic-democracy. We are left with no options but to choose from the existing rotten lot.

At the outset, let us brainstorm some suggestions instead of discuss the system per se. Suggestions have erupted after experiencing problems in the system. Instead of elaborating on the problems, I would like to focus on the suggestions.

When we say representatives of the population, it has its inherent limitations. The first is obviously the numbers. Whoever has more number gets the opportunity to rule. This is the easiest solution one can always have. Shall we throw some light in this regard? In a country that is as vast as ours, X is popular in one corner and Y is popular in the other end. Fortunately, X belongs to an area that is twice as big as the area Y belongs to. Thus, X gets more numbers & will get the opportunity to rule. Is this the right way of electing our ruler?

• Shouldn’t the ruler get the approval to rule from all areas across the country?
• Or else, shouldn’t we lay down a rule specifying that the party that needs to rule must have a certain percentage of votes from all parts of the country?
  

The other problem is the number statistics. Ironically, every election does not record 100% voting. Hardly has it lingered around 40 to 50%. This means 50% of the people have already disapproved the contestants to rule. Out of the balance 50%, the ruler hardly gets 30% of the votes and is declared as winner. However, in reality, he is approved to rule only by 15% of the people. He is declared as the ruler. Is this the right democracy?

One might ask why you didn’t exercise your voting right. It is a bitter a truth that politics today has none other than notorious criminals. When one has to choose his representative, he has to ascertain who is the lesser-harmful criminal? If one is not satisfied with the contestants, why should he/she vote?

• If I can have the right of voting, shouldn’t I have the right of rejection also?
• Can there be an option of “none of the above” along with other contestants?

Another issue is Parties claim that our ruler will be chosen by the elected representatives. Can I vote for a faceless leader? There were occasions that we were ruled by Prime Ministers who did not face the election but made back-door entry through Rajya Sabha. None of the voters would have even imagined while voting that they will be ruled by a Prime Minister like Deve Gowda! Is not this an irony? Can you call this a democracy?

• When I vote, I should know who will be the Prime Minister I am voting for ?

The local representative I prefer and the Prime Minister I prefer are from different parties. Then how do I vote? In either way, I am going against my wish that is against democracy also.

My vote must have two options. One for local representative and the other for Prime Minister

Blame it on frustration or laziness or lack of interest, the turnout during election always remained poor. People take pride in boycott voting.

• Non-voters should be penalized or punished
• Voters should have the facility to vote from any corner of the country

Democracy is a Government of the people, by the people & for the people but the reality is Govt OFF the people; BUY the people & FRAUD the people. It has become a routine poor people are wooed by freebies, instant money and voting is manipulated. When people promise and did not keep it, they are punished but politicians promise do nothing still go scott-free. They say they are punished by voting out. But is this a punishment? Five years is too long a period for such crooks to damage the country! Is this right?

• Annual appraisal of the representative by elected personnel should be implemented. Failed candidates should be barred from contesting

It is not the system that fails us but those who run it. I am sure most of these suggestions are difficult to implement. However, discussions on these suggestions would pave a way for protecting the system from malpractices. Democracy fairly exists in its sense however; it needs improvement in its implementation. This will happen. I am confident.

MOBOCRACY

Here goes another episode. Gujjars waited for another vacation holidays to strike so that the tourism gets affected in Rajastan and their demands are heard to. “You reap what you sow” and this is being proved here. An affair of the state is being transformed into a national issue, courtesy, caste-politics played by our leaders.

These crook politicians perpetuate the caste system in India just to keep the public divided. If one Prime Minister divided us in the name of language, the other did in the name of caste (read reservation). Now this has become a handy tool for these crooks to play politics in the name of region, religion caste and creed.

On one side they blame the society for discrimination and ill-treatment of Dalits and on the other side they want them to be christened as Dailts (or low caste) just as to enjoy the benefits in the name of the caste.

In democracy, the common citizen can participate in the governance and get his demand fulfilled. Here what Gujjars did was an implicit threat to the Governance. If you do not meet my demands, I will keep on damaging you and your properties. This is not new to us. Our Health Minister Mr. Ramadoss’s party did these two decades back in Tamilnadu and Gujjars followed it late. Is this democracy or Mobocracy?

Indian Media has taken an oath that they will never allow anything good to the country. If the Chief Minister stood firm, the media took the sides of these mobs naming them innocents and depicted a story as if the Government was unduly harsh. However, the media failed to look on the other side of the harshness created by these mobs! If the CM kept quiet, they blamed the CM in the name of inaction. What do they want? Just to succumb to the demands of Gujjars and set a precedent of allotting quotas to all who indulge in such mobs?

Despite all these SAchin Pilot had cracked jokes that brought us some lighter moments. He said, “It is an empty gesture to send a letter to PM” – What Mr. Pilot mean to say. Is sending a letter to PM is an empty gesture? Is the office of PM is superfluous or dummy? Will the PMO act only to letters from cabinet ministers recommending their kith & kin to loot the tax payers’ money as they did in TR Baalu’s case? Mr. Sachin went on to add, “A similar letter was sent to PM from the CM four years back also” meaning PMO is not taking action to a letter sent from the CM of a state for 4 years. Imagine the plight of a common citizen?

The population of Indians abroad will be around 2% of the Indian population still, their income is about 20% of the Indian GDP. This shows that the performance is boosted by its surroundings. An average performer delivers good if the surroundings were supportive and the good performer excels. However, if the environment does not support, even the excellent performer gives you an average performance. The performance of Indians abroad is a proof of this. All of these Indians had left India because they did not get the right opportunity to perform or they were refused to perform.

However, our politicians cannot look into this. They do not know what Meritocracy is. Meritocracy is being reduced to mediocrity. Our rulers are not concerned about the country but their future plans even if it is at the cost of the country.

I do agree with Mr. Sachin Pilot that one needs a political will to tackle such issues. Will Sachin comment on the same to his party leaders? Will Sachin ask these Gujjar brothers to compensate for the damages they have incurred to the Government? Will he go against the compensation to the victims if offered by the Government from the coffers of tax payers’ money? Mr. Sachin, to do this, you need political guts. Let us not talk of a factor which we lack totally.

Worth Reading these tips! This is just another E-mail word but certainly not a junk as it used to be!

• Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate antidepressant.
• Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.
• Always pray and make time to exercise.
• Spend more time with people over the age of 70 And under the age of Six.
• Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants And eat less foods that are manufactured in Plants.
• Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
  
• Try to make at least three people smile each day.
  
• Clear your clutter from your house, car, and desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
  
• Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead, invest your energy in the positive present moment.
  
• Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class. But the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
  
• Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a layman And dinner like a beggar.
  
• Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
  
• Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
  
• Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
  
• You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree
  
• Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present
  
• Don't compare your life to others. You have no Idea what their journey is all about.
  
• Stop waiting for a special occasion. Every day is special.
  
• No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
  
• Frame every so-called disaster with these Words: In five years, will these matters?
  
• Forgive everyone for everything
  
• What other people think of you is none of your Business
  
• Time heals almost everything. Give time!
  
• However good or bad a situation is, it will Change
  
• Your job won't take care of you when you are Sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch with them.
  
• Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful
  
• Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need. God provides, remember?
  
• The best is yet to come.
  
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
  
• Do the right thing
  
• Each night before you go to bed complete the Following statements:
  I am thankful for __________
  Today I accomplished _________
  
• Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed
  
• Enjoy the ride. Remember that this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast Pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
  

Appease Unabashedly

The honorable(?) Home minister of India has come out with a new logic in an unabashed manner as to appease one particular community! Stooping to such a low level by the rulers just to please one religion, demonstrate the hypocritical functioning of the secular practices in this country.

Mr. Patil’s argument is, “If we are demanding the release of Sarabjeet Singh, how can we talk of hanging Afzal Guru!” Mr. Patil went on to add, “We can’t blame a community based on single incident”

Perhaps, one has to remind Mr. Patil that the cases of Afazal & Sarabjeet are not similar to draw a parallel. Afzal Guru is a convicted criminal who tried to blow away the Indian Parliament House that resulted in loss of lives of handful of policemen and other officials. Afzal Guru was tried and the Supreme Court of India had sentenced him the capital punishment.

The story of Sarabjeet is different. It is a case of mistaken identity and Sarabjeet has already undergone many a mental torture that he might not even wish to live again!Afzal is not a Pakistani and in no way they have to co-relate Afzal's issue with Srabjit. By saying so,
Hypothetically speaking, Even if the Pakistan took a stand of doing a barter (Afzal for Sarabjeet), Mr. Patil should have shown guts to proceed with the hanging of Afzal. This would have exposed the Pakistan of their proxy war against India. Also this would have proved us wrong whenever Mr. Patil made a comment that we can’t tolerate terrorism!

Can we release a terrorist like Afzal Guru and put crores of Indians at risk for the sake of saving one single citizen of India? If you are convinced in taking such a stand, what moral ethics do you have to blame the BJP for exchanging terrorists for innocent passengers?

Alas! We must be idiots to expect these from a minister who is loyal to the first family. Our beloved Prime Minister’s sleep gets disturbed when a man from a particular community is questioned for a crime occurred but is comfortable to sleep when hundreds of fellow Indians are massacred by terrorists belong to that particular community.

Mr. Patil should understand that all Muslims do not indulge in terrorism but all terrorist activities in India are initiated by Muslims. Mr. Patil, this is not the first incident to conceive an impression but this is happening repeatedly and you are sitting on every issue like a duck doing nothing.

Appeasement has never yielded results be it Ramayana or Mahabharata. Demons are demons and they understand only one language war! Wage a war against terrorism Mr. Patil. We are not asking you to wage a war on Muslims but on terrorism. Unless we start seeing the terrorists as terrorists and not as a person of particular community, we will keep on appeasing them at the cost of the country!

Charity & Philanthropy

Charity and Philanthropy are the two characteristics that distinguish humankind from others. Charity is to contribute for a common kind on one’s own. Simply put, a voluntary donation for a good cause is termed as Charity. Philanthropy is no different from charity. However, it is defined as love for the mankind or benevolence.

How long one should extend giving charity? Should they do once in their life time or everyday? Should it be given to the same person or different persons? These are some confusing questions. Privilege is different from right.

It is the law of humanity that richer should aid poor. However, the problem here is the discrimination. How to differentiate the genuine deserving poor from the lazy, idle beggars? I am, at times, driven to have the opinion of encouraging laziness and begging through this charity-thing. This has encouraged our beggars to remain as “people-always-in-need”. The habit of providing alms has conditioned the so-called poor to remain poor always and seek alms as they are lazy enough to earn their bread.

Charity should be driven by the kindness of one’s heart. However, nowadays it is driven by other reasons! The ironical reason is advertisement. The other reason is the fear of God. The “punya” factor – means by doing charity, people perceive that their misdeeds are getting squared up! Or otherwise, it is a sort of bribing for their misdeeds.

This is clear from the data of offerings made at temples, churches or any other worship-spots. In India, worship-spots have become money-minting enterprises. It is not only the money but the Gold, silver, diamonds, cloths, and food material. I have never come across where God has asked for temples to be built on His name. Nor I had read He wanted temples be furnished with Gold or His idol be made of high-class marble or panchalola & studded with precious jewels!

Shirdi Saibaba lived like a Fakir but His devotees plan a diamond-studded crown for his marble statue. He never advised extravaganza or such a display of wealth. How can they be called as devotees if they did not understand the teachings of Saibaba?

In olden days, construction industry has been the main source of employment apart from agriculture and arts. So, Kings kept on building forts and temples. Temples were operated as banks for the kingdom. The wealth of the kingdom was transformed into gold and it was stored in temples. In case of natural calamities, the entire population would take shelter in the temples and they will be fed from the temple’s coffer. Alas! Nowadays it has taken a shape of a ritual!

If we gather all the wealth (even only gold and diamond) from temples all over India, we will never fall short of resources to build a new country. However, the existing politicians should not be allowed to have access to this. I am not atheist but I feel that serving the needy is the service to God. There is no dearth of temples in India but there is a scarcity for toilets, hospitals and primary schools. Why don’t we build them? Why build temples and block all our money? Is this called charity? Is this called kindness or benevolence?

In my humble opinion, this is not charity, nor charity means giving alms to poor. Parting away with funds and material is quite easy. If one after another keeps providing fish to the guy, he will never learn fishing and will seek some one who can provide him fish. This conditions him to be lazy. Instead, if we taught him fishing, as a part of charity, that would do him a world of good. The real teacher is the one who makes the students thirsty and not the one who provides pots of water!

The real charity would be to teach them how to earn their bread. To educate someone is the real charity or sponsor someone getting educated is the real service to God. Many of us might be educating many under-privileged children. For others, even if a few of them get inspired after reading this blog and does this act, that is a great charity from my part!

Irresponsibility is the name of Media

Nothing is impossible. This is pretty true when it pertains to the affairs of Indian politics. The happenings around persuade one to be more obsessed with the affairs of Indian politics.

Not long ago, I shared a joke in Sulekha-jokes column when two friends talk among themselves; one says that he would like to be the Prime Minister of India. The other guy shockingly asks, “Are you crazy?” for which the first one replies, “Why? Is that necessary?”

I never thought that this joke mentioned in a lighter vein would become a reality. Last evening, as I surf the TV channels, I found out an interesting SMS survey by a news channel asking Whether Mayawati will be the first Dalit Prime Minister of India?

At the outset, I am confused on the question itself. Since when onwards, we have started classifying the premier posts on the basis of castes? As far as I knew, I never came across a Prime Minister who was given a tag like Brahmin Prime Minister or so. Why the prefix of Dalit is to be added? Is being a Dalit is the prime qualification to be the Prime Minister irrespective of the fact whether they deserve this post or not? I thought PM post is a responsibility to lead a country and not a caste.

I am not questioning the capability of Mayawati per se for this post but I am against the tag of “Dalit” being added to the Prime Minister post. Even if she becomes one, will she be the PM for Dalits only and not for India.

The best lesson we learnt from the history is none has learnt a lesson from the history. Mr. K R Narayanan was insulted (or I would say so) when his nomination for the post of Premier was justified on the basis of his caste and not by his qualifications.

We were taught in our schools that British adapted “Divide and Rule” to spoil our country. I beg to differ. To be precise, the opposite of this is true. India was politically united only when British ruled us. How could have British or Moguls ruled us if we were united? Even when the British left us, we needed a Sardar Patel to unite 300-odd princely states to name a country called India.

We boasted “Unity in Diversity” but the emphasis was much on the diversity and not on the unity. Politicians took enough care that we, the Indians remained divided in the name of caste, region, religion, language etc., The media, which is supposed to correct the errors of the ruling parties are behaving hand-in-glove to all of their activities.

All I could say is, “Irresponsibility – thy name is Media”. Please try to shed this tag before you give superfluous tags to all others.

Indian politicians are notorious for their priorities or the lack of it whenever they respond to an issue. Dr. Anbumani (Ramdoss – this is his father’s name) is not exception. It is a well known fact that Ramdoss’s family is jealous of the charisma that Rajini has and the clout he has over the Tamilnadu people.

As the saying goes, “aatirakkaranukku buddi mattu” (angry man has no mind), Ramdoss perceives that the Rajini style (throwing cigarette and catching) is the reason for his popularity. If he brings a ban on smoking on cigarette he can curtail the popularity of Rajini. If he thought so, we can only pity him.

The entire Tamilnadu knew how Ramdoss came to limelight. His organization was labeled as “kaadu vetti katchi” (forest cutting party) as they used to fell down trees all over the highways of Tamilnadu and block the traffic just to highlight their issue. Now these environmentalists want to ban smoke on screen. If you really want to ban something on movies, then ban those almost-nude song & dance sequences

I am at fail to ascertain how to react to this. If Mr.Anbuman is so keen about the healthy conditions of India, he should have expressed his concern when medication to measles led to the death of four innocent lives in Tamilnadu.

Can Mr. Anbumani ask all the cigarette manufacturers to close their unit and the beedi units functioning in India because it causes ill-health?
Can Mr. Anbumani bring a ban on all liquor manufacturing units all over India?
Why doesn’t Mr. Anubmani do something to the smokes spitted by the Government run buses when inhaled causes more damage to lungs than a cigarette?

Mr. Anbumani, if you are really concerned about the healthy conditions of India, please do the following:

• Make a rule that all the doctors (fresh and experienced) should spend 3 years of their career service in primary health centers of Indian villages. (this includes you Mr. Anbumani)
• This practice should be renewed every 20 years.
• The license to practice should be ceased whenever a doctor defaults this.
• Stop playing politics with the Deans of Medical colleges
• Stop the malpractices in drug-handling at all govt run hospitals.
• Improve the condition of Govt hospitals.
• Construct public-convenience structures all over India.
• Stop Indians from defecating in public.

We thank your for our mis-perception that educated lots when enter politics will do good for us. You have proved us wrong.

The only consolation is even Bush, the most unpopular President of USA also behaves this way by his stupid comments on the recent price rise globally attributing to India.

Politicians are the same all over the globe.