Would the New Year 2013 be any different for us?

As the world readies itself to greet the New Year 2013 – with renewed hopes, promises and cheers; I feel too heavy with the experiences we had in 2012, to join the celebrations. The mood of an ordinary Indian across the length and width of the country is that of frustration, of helplessness, of despair! While we express our shock and grief over the gang-rape and death of Nirbhaya alias Damini or Amanat – the victim who wanted to live a dignified life once again; the law-makers and law-keepers are living their life –as usual – apathetic to the woes of a common man. If it continues, would the year 2013 or 2014 0r 2015 be a different year for me, for my family, for my society and for my country? The way things are going on; I do not think it would be any different in the immediate past.

The general anger among the public is widespread cutting across the divisive lines of language, geographical region, religion or any other such factors. It is against the functioning of government machineries, against its total failure in giving safety and security to the general public – especially the women, against the system that is of no help to the poor victims. The important stakeholders in the government – like the MLAs, the MPs, the Civil Servants, the judiciary or any public representative for that matter - must realise that there is a growing anger among the general mass against issues that are adversely affecting the normal life in general. Be it the issue of corruption, lawlessness, high handedness and apathetic attitude of our so called - public servants - have a great responsibility to act now – instead of just giving verbal assurances and playing blame game. It is high time that they introspect and correct themselves – to make the system work for the common public instead of it working for themselves, the corrupt and those in power.

Our Indian populace has already begun showing resentment against the corrupt ways of our system. With the falling public governance standards, the rising resentment of the general public is forcing them to come out on the street and challenge the so called law makers and law keepers, for, how long will they tolerate the daily tortures in one form or the other? I fear that if our leaders – whom we elect and put our faith in them – remain apathetic to the voice of the nation, the protests and agitations may take the shape of civil unrest and situation may get out of control.

May better sense prevail and all those responsible in the government – understand the gravity of the situation that we are in and they act with all sincerity to make the life of every ordinary citizen easy and let them live a dignified life – men or women – all, with equal right and with equal respect. And, we, as an ordinary citizen must strive to act in all situations with all sincerity. Sincerity at our work, sincerity in our relations and sincerity in our commitments will make us all a better person and help in making India a better nation.

Let us strive to make the New Year 2013 – a better year, a happy year for ourselves and for our society. Wish you all the very best in fulfilling your dreams!

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

On Doomsday – Let Us Resolve to be More Courageous!

The wait for Doomsday – 21^st December 2012 is almost over! We are well into the last week of The Maya Calendar. It is learnt that some individuals in foreign countries have made elaborate arrangements for this day – to save themselves and family members from – the sudden end of this lively world. I wish all such individuals- good luck and may they all remain safe and secured with their loved ones, forever!

We Indians need not prepare for such an eventuality, because as a country and as an individual we all are great survivors and this doomsday too shall pass – without making any ripples. The country which has survived the brutal onslaughts of Alexander, the Moghuls, the English in the past – will survive this too. The country and its ordinary people are highly resilient and that’s why we still exist today – as a nation and as an individual - despite looting of its natural resources and laundering of public money worth billions of Rupees – by the external forces as well as by our own people, by our own representatives!

However, the recent incidences like the eve-teasing case of Mumbai which resulted in death of a young man – who had dared to protest the hooligans , no one came forward to put the criminals behind bars – compels me to feel sorry about ourselves. How helpless the family members of the victims – the girl who was teased and the boy who had to lay down his dear life for protesting the action of the eve-teasers – must have been feeling! No voice for them from any corner, it is a pity.

 If we go on behaving like this- fearing the eve-teasers, fearing the law-makers, fearing the law-breakers, fearing the law-keepers – we are certainly doomed! Nothing can save us.

On Doomsday – let us resolve to be courageous – let us speak for the hapless victims and raise our voice against the wrongdoers.

 

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

A new beginning for Shiv-Sena & MNS and birth of AAP

The last rites of Sri Balasaheb Thackeray at Shivaji Park in Mumbai witnessed a sea of humanity turned up to pay their last respect to their beloved leader. This huge turnover of his supporters at the funeral very well demonstrated the fact that he had created a special place in the hearts of the Marathi Manus. In the recent past no other political leader or a public figure commands so much support in any part of our country – about other countries, I am not sure.

 

I respect Sri Balasaheb Thackeray for commanding so much respect among Marathi Manus, however, I remain as ever - opposed to his philosophy of creating a rift between Marathi Manus and other Indian Manus – simply because it is against the spirit and constitution of our country where we each of us have equal right! I also respect him for keeping some check on the underworld ( i feel so), but am opposed against the tirades and violence he used to unleash on the poor ‘bhayyas’ who chose Mumbai as their city of dreams! I am also opposed to the way Shiv-Sainiks force their dictat on administration(sic). I shall remain opposed to the way they reacted on the harmless comments of the two city girls on Facebook and subsequently ransacking of hospital of one of their relative - without any reason or rhyme.

 

Post Sri Balasaheb Thackeray, Shiv-Sena might not be the same under Udhav and MNS might become more fiery in order to consolidate and establish its supremacy in Maharashtra. Only time will tell – who among the cousins is better for Marathi Manus or lesser evil for ‘bhayyas’. But I strongly believe that Shiv-Sena and MNS won’t be the same again after departure of the strongman.

 

I only pray that good sense prevails over the cousins and they steer their political ships respecting the spirit and constitution of India!

 

 

And at the end I wish good luck to AAP – the  Aam Aadmi Party of Kejriwal! I pray that it works with the good intentions that it has been constituted. An ordinary Indian would be too happy with its success!

 

 

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

India Against Corruption – now, a Naram Dal and Garam Dal

Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal brought lot of hope and enthusiasm to the nation tainted with scams of the order of lakhs-crore of Rupees. India Against Corruption (IAC) – a movement led by Gandhian Anna Hazare and the youthful Arvind Kejriwal – together with association of creditable Kiran Bedi and the Bhushans did raise enough storm to force the politicians in introducing the Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha – though it didn’t match with the Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by Team Anna.

The recent split between the main leads Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal has come as a shock and surprise to one and all. But, the government must be breathing sigh of relief!

Upon formalisation of the split, I see a direct analogy between the Naram Dal and Garam Dal of Indian National Congress and the split between Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal of India Against Corruption. I would like to call Anna Hazare as the Naram Dal leader for his Gandhian ways and Arvind Kejriwal as that of the Garam Dal for his youthful character and enthusisam. While the split of ideologies between Naram Dal and Garam Dal of Indian National Congress in 1907 weakened the Congress which eventually resulted in the Independence Movement losing its steam, the split between Hazare and Kejriwal is a death blow to a movement of such a national importance. Hopeful Youths and people  – who gave momentum to this movement must have been feeling cheated by IAC.

Asom Gan Parishad – which took birth as a result of six year long agitation by All Assam Students Union (AASU) – was once a party led by highly motivated student leaders with clean image. But today, it is just like any other political party with same type of political leadership.  I fear the same for Arvind Kejriwal’s proposed political party – it won’t be different than any other party – if it starts winning seats!

Anna Hazare’s decision to split with Arvind Kejriwal does not seems to be a right decision for either of them or for the country. They have only weakened themselves and the cause for which they all came together. It would have been a wise decision – had Anna Hazare stayed with Kejriwal to take up the cause further and farther. Team Anna should have resolved that themselves shall not fight for election but would form a political party where they could put up candidates with impeccable past and credentials. Team Anna should have worked as a guiding force and mentor for the party.

May be, today they have parted ways and tomorrow they might be together again with much clarity on how to take the movement further in making India a corruption free nation!

Best wishes to the Naram dal and Garam Dal of Team Anna (!) and the young brigade of youthful India.  

Where Were You Raj?

The uniqueness of our country is its multiplicity. People of all hues, speaking different languages, of all sects and possible religions, having different cultures and following exotic rituals and traditions – that is India – a lovely bouquet of flowers of every variety that one can imagine!

People have been migrating from one place to other for all the reasons – food, water, wealth, weather, convenience, compulsions and what not! There might be a few groups of aboriginal inhabitants even today in some parts of the country, but majority of them must have moved at least a few hundred kilometres from their original birth-place for one reason or the other. It is difficult to say who the original inhabitant is and who the migrated one. DNA finger-printing might be of help in fixing it!

The Thackerays have been belittling the people hailing from Bihar and UP, had been opposing the brethrens from the south, had been trying to push out the Gujaratis and Marwaris. And strangely enough, they have followers too! People from all over India have contributed immensely to the prosperity of Mumbai with their hard work and have given it an identity. How they are outsiders?

Shiv Sainiks and MNS must give a thought – and must draw inspiration from the life and philosophy of the legendary Shivaj i-  who tried to unite India under one flag. What these people are aspiring for, in Shivaji’s own home!

Comments of Digvijay Singh on the origins of Thackeray family has been a shocking revelation to one and all. The Thackerays say that it is not them who migrated but it is the Thakre clan who migrated from Magadh(Bihar) to Bhopal to Pune! It doesn’t matter. What is important is that people do migrate and settle at one place or the other which suits them. Autobiography of Grandpa of Raj Thackeray only proves it.

Interestingly, it is believed that my own forefathers had participated in the third battle of Panipat in 1761 as Maratha soldier and later found their way to a place – which is now my ancestral village – Anandpur – founded by them in Patna District of Bihar! Phew! Strange are the ways of migration. It means that originally I am a Marathi and now a Bihari. Whereas, the Thackerays were originally a Bihari and now they are Marathis! Hah!

Now, the question is who should evict whom? No doubt, we would find ourselves entangled with one and all, if we go the Thackerays way.

Let good sense prevail on the Thackerays and their followers. When Mumbai was under the siege of the terrorists – our commandos representing the length and breadth of India risked their lives to nail the terrorists and bring peace to Mumbai. I didn’t hear of this family stepping out of their homes to shoo away the terrorists. And, Where were you Raj?

We are one! Always, come whatever.

The recent panic among our north-eastern brethren that led them to flee their educational institutions and work place is really unfortunate. But, what is satisfying is that despite all this pandemonium, calm prevails across the length and breadth of our country. It is commendable that ordinary Indians didn’t bite the bait of the people with evil design. And it is praiseworthy that our politicians cutting across party lines showed a genuine concern and have directed the administration for taking immediate action for safety and security of the citizens and to nab the rumour mongers. It is heartwarming to see that police administration and our politicians are serious and are really working on it.

 It is learnt from the news reports that are pouring in that the bulk messages and the doctored photographs and videos posted on various social networks have its origins in Pakistan! Alas, the incorrigibles, once again!

While the investigations will shortly throw light on all the aspects of this unfortunate episode, it is high time for all of us to contact our north-east citizens whom we know and who fled their workplace and educational institutions to their homes fearing for their lives. Employers of such citizens must make efforts to contact them to call them back and assure them that all is well! Similarly, the educational institutions should ask their students to call up their friends in the north-east to join them as it was just a rumour. More the delay, problems will get compounded for all the employees, the students the employers and the institutes. Earlier, the better.

And yes, this rumour-gate has proved once again that India is one! We are one! Always, come whatever.

Entire India celebrated the victory of Mary Kom. Because, she is one amongst us.

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

While Food Grains Rot, Food Inflation is on the Trot

Today there were three news items on the front page of TOI-Ahmedabad Edition (dated 15/05/2012) which I found related to each other and contradicting too. While the main headline news appears as ‘Veggie prices surge 61%, fuel 7.2% inflation in Apr’, the other two news items appear under News Digest as ‘Center to give Rs. 700Cr for drought relief work’ and just below it ‘Storage space crunch for bumper harvest’! Source for all the three news items emanates from the Centre i.e. the Central Government!

It is indeed ironical that while tonnes and tonnes of food grains rot in the age old godowns and in the open storage in Punjab and other parts of the country, millions go to bed without a square meal! As reported in the news item – the FCI has warned that unless the government distributes 750 lakh tonnes of food grain, there will be no storage space for the bumper harvest being currently procured! At the same time Centre has decided to give Rs. 700 Crore as reimbursement to the state for expenditures incurred on drought-mitigation work.

The government really needs to look into its wayward policies and to put into place a system for timely collection, secured storage and distribution of food grains so as to make it available to the citizens at reasonable price and to ensure its availability to the poor citizens thru PDS without involvement of the middlemen. Looking at the current state of affairs of food grains management, it is clear that the policies, if any, are just for name sake and food grains either end up rotting in the godowns or is pilfered or pushed into the hands of the middlemen. And, the poor hungry mouths and food inflation keep on rising.

When it comes to vegetables and fruits, the prices have skyrocketed and are now very much beyond the reach of an ordinary Indian. The reason for exorbitant increase in prices is not known- whether produce is less, or people have started eating more or the middlemen have spread their network thru political backup for generating party funds! Out of these three probabilities, involvement of middlemen appears to be the major reason for hike in veggie prices too! I guess that.

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

Who would you like to be the next President of India?

With the five year term of the first lady President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil coming to an end in July’ 2012, the search for the 13^th President of India has begun. While this election will test the strength of political parties and see realignment of regional parties, some parties like Trinamool Congress may try to earn a good bargain in the process.

Speculations are being made that the current Vice-President of India – Mohammad Hamid Ansari might be the likely Presidential candidate, Pranab da’s name has also started doing rounds. However, as an ordinary Indian, I am not impressed with either of the choices! Both the candidates are learned and highly experienced, but still they lack the charm that a candidate should have for this position. Even the incumbent President didn’t leave anything worth which could be attributed to her during her tenure at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In the immediate past, we have seen luminaries like late Sri K.R Narayanan – the 10^th President and the most inspiring 11^th President- Sri APJ Abdul Kalam – who really suited for the top job and they did justice to it.

We need someone as the head of the family who is all knowledgeable, highly respected, has vision and imagination and has faith in the youth. We have the ‘Agni’ man still with us, inspiring the youth with his lectures and books and he is trying his best to carry forward his Vision 2020. We actually need a highly respected, simple and sincere Head who has vision to guide the country in the right direction. In my view, there is no other better choice than APJ!

True, President of India is a titular head; but when it is APJ Abdul Kalam as the Head of State, it no longer remains titular- because he rules over the heart of all and has the ability to move the nation , and for it no executive powers are required. I wish him back to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, who do you wish as the President?

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

Woes of a Public Sector Employee

In the morning with the ritual cup of morning tea, I was just glancing thru the main page of Times of India (3^rd April’12) when my heart lost a beat! No, no, no. I am not a heart patient. But the news item – Salary hikes pegged at 12% in India – is sure to make your heart race or falter! And surely heart would falter when you know, you are not among the ones who would get the pay hike.

The salary hike projection for the current year is at 12% overall with auto-sector employees expected to net about 14.38% followed by pharma sector at 12.8%! These figures are from M/s Mercer – a global consulting firm. It is learnt that signs of economic recovery are stronger, hence 75% of the companies are increasing their budget allocation for pay hikes. Also, 54% of the employees are planning to leave their organisation!

We, in public sector, are a different tribe. Economic Recovery or Recession, hardly it matters – to us in terms of pay. Yes, of late some facilities get withdrawn Most of the public sector companies had pay revision in 2007 – with periodicity for pay revision stated as ‘within ten years’! Going by the inflation rate since 2007 considering at an average rate of 6%, our pay rate has already devalued by about 35%, whereas, with conservative pay rate hike @ 11% in private sector during the same period – employees in the private sector have been better compensated with aggregate hike of about 68%! What compensation we get on annual basis? Increment of mere 3%!! The minimum wages for labour are revised every six months

Pay revision in public sector is not expected soon. We will have to fight tooth and nail for it. And by the time we get it- in another five years, our pay would get devalued to about 80%! We need lot of planning to do – to make the ends meet.

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

Indian Hockey – Return of Golden Era!

In India, Cricket is the only sport which gets coverage on almost daily basis – in print and as well as electronic media. We recognize almost all the cricketers of Team India by name and face! There is hardly any other game which can be called a close second to cricket. And as far as Hockey – our national game is concerned – barring a few veteran players like Pargat Singh and Dhanraj Pillai, hardly have we known others!

Cricket – as a game has been very well managed and marketed by the cricketing fraternity, especially in Indian context. And players like Kapil Dev, Gavaskar, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dhoni, Yuvraj have excelled in the game and taken it to a new level. Whereas, no other sport in India can boast of raising the bar to a new level and having produced players like the iconic cricketers.

However, I always feel that other sports too must get their due and for hockey I feel it in a more pronounced way! Of late, some support is seen coming for Indian Hockey and off and on success of our national team has given me some solace and a flicker of hope that good days are ahead.

The just concluded Olympic Qualifiers has rekindled the hope in the heart of every of Indian with the par excellence performance of our hockey players. Hundred percent winning record in the Olympic Qualifier matches with convincing wins is a good reason to keep faith in the young, energetic and talented team to win the gold medal in London Olympics.  And I wish that Michael Nobbs – the cool Coach – keeps up the good work of holding the team together and builds the momentum enough to roll over the best team in London!

It was pleasant to see this week - the cheerful hockey team on the front page and covering the entire space on the sports page – filled with hockey news articles and analysis in almost all the national dailies(beware Cricket fans!). I wish that this continues forever and Indian Hockey regains its past glory- the golden era – of winning only gold medals!

Only dreams come true! Let us dream and wish that India takes the top position on the podium.

Best of luck Team India!

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

Let us live every moment of 2012!

December 21^st, 2012 has had been in news for quite some time now and lot of discussions has been there to debate – whether it would be the last day of ours and for our mother earth? This date is said to be known to ancient cultures – as the doomsday! But, as the clock struck at midnight on 31^st December 2011; everyone gathered across the globe in formal and informal parties - welcomed 2012 with cutting of cakes, fireworks, singing, dancing, resolutions, promises and lot of enthusiasm – just the way we should have had.

Every moment that we get in our life – must be enjoyed and put to use in the best possible way, as if there won’t be another! We all know this, but still we keep wasting our time and keep postponing things that we enjoy the most. We keep postponing doing things we love the most – family vacations, playing with the kids, a round of golf, meeting our old friends and alike.

The year 2012 gives us a reason to celebrate it differently – by celebrating the every moment that we get before 21^st December 2012! I believe that nothing will go wrong with us and our earth – as far as the doomsday prophecy is concerned. But, in order to enjoy our life and find a meaning of it for ourselves, let us believe that doomsday prophecy is going to happen for sure – and hence let us not waste any moment of ours.

Let us start loving ourselves,  let us start believing ourselves, let us not restrain ourselves in expressing our love to our near and dear ones, let us start doing things that we enjoy the most – as if there is no tomorrow. Yes, let us start living!

And, as 21^st December 2012- the doomsday would just pass by as an ordinary day; we all would be the masters of our own lives.

Wish you all a very happy new year 2012!

madhukarmohan@gmail.com