Expectations from 2014 !

The year 2013 would be remembered by all of us for the successful launch of Mangalyaan- Mars Orbiter Mission by our scientists on 5^th November 213. It is a matter of great pride, satisfaction and great rejoice that so far the Mangalyaan is right on its path in its about 10 month long journey- due to reach its destination on 24^th September 2014! Let us keep our fingers crossed and pray for its successful journey – which would undoubtedly put India at an enviable position in terms of its scientific competency. Successful journey of the Mars Orbiter would be one of the biggest milestones for India in the year 2014 and it would certainly inspire the generations to come. India has produced astronomers like Aryabhatta in the past and today ISRO can boast of world-class team of astronomers, scientists and mathematicians. Though we are the forth country to do it, we can say with pride we are second to none!

While the Mangalyaan brought cheers in November, the handcuffing and humiliation of Indian diplomat Ms Devyani Khobragade by US Authorities on 12^th December 2013 has shocked us all. The irresponsible, highhanded and humiliating ways of US only proves its arrogance and disrespect towards the biggest democracy of the world. It is unfortunate and must be condemned strongly – not only by Indian authorities, but by all the well wishers of India and those who value Indo-US relations. Would US ever tolerate such treatment to its own diplomats in a foreign land? In all probability, it won’t and it would do everything to teach a lesson to the erring nation and would justify it too. Astonishingly, but it is a matter of great satisfaction that good sense prevailed and all the major political parties of India have come together in registering their strong protest. They all have a common opinion – on at least this issue. India must do everything to uphold the self-esteem of Indians and draw apology from the highest office of US. Today only, I was going thru a book on Universe, it states that even Stars are not permanent – they too die! Let good sense prevail on USA in 2014 and always.

The year 2013 would be also remembered for the surprise entry and active participation of the common mass in political field. Politics is considered as a strict no-no for a common man, but the emergence of Aam Aadmi Party is forcing the much required change. Big political parties are learning that the common man or an ordinary Indian can’t be ignored now.  It is unfortunate that 2013 also saw splitting of Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal – an unfortunate development – since together they could unite the entire country – on the issue of corruption – wherein people from all the cross sections of the society came together. While the ‘sarkari’ Lokpal Bill has been already passed in both the houses of Parliament for which Anna Hazare expressed satisfaction while Arvind Kejriwal calls it a ‘Jokepal’ , ‘Jan’ Lokapal Bill of ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ led by Arvind Kejriwal is awaited. The star-like performance of Aam Aadmi Party in its maiden attempt has put a lot of responsibility on it, and would be an acid test for Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP team. AAP is getting an opportunity to form government in Delhi with Arvind Kejriwal most likely as the Chief Minister – and in case it is able to impress the Delhites with its good governance, AAP would be a force to reckon with in the coming Loksabha elections – at least in some of the states which are languishing for long under corrupt government. God forbid, in case, it fails in Delhi in the eyes of the common man, it would be the end of AAP story! Hence, AAP must tread with positivity and cautiously for the sake of the nation and its ordinary populace, as its ideology is what the nation is yearning for since independence.

Entire country is looking with lot of expectation and respect towards Aam Aadmi Party – for, it has taken head-on with the big political parties and their bigwigs - challenging their authority and functioning. In the current scenario of hung Assembly, AAP needs more courage and conviction. With the challenge of forming Government at debut and that too in Delhi, AAP will have to tighten its belt and take the plunge with commitment and honesty.

An Ordinary Indian wishes the Aam Aadmi Party good luck for an exemplary stint of good governance in the heart of the country- Delhi.

I wish that the New Year 2014 brings with it lot of happiness, prosperity and peace to one and all. Let this be the year of change!

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

Khaadya Suraksha Bill – 2013 – a boon for the poor or the intermediaries!

I had thought of writing on Khaadya Suraksha Bill on the very day it was passed in the parliament, but I didn’t. The idea of food security is really appreciable, but its success can be assured only and only if everyone in this food chain is dry honest!

The day bill was passed, I thought of writing down my reaction. I just wrote the title– ‘Khaadya Suraksha Bill – 2013 – a boon for the poor or the middlemen!’ and thinking that I shouldn’t be judgemental – I gave up the idea of writing anything against – such a well intended bill. I prayed silently for its success and for our poor countrymen who could finally dream with their belly full.

 The very first thing that had come to my mind that day was – who would benefit the most as a result of this food security bill – the poor or the middle men? I was convinced – the intermediaries would benefit – as the middlemen always flourish!

The shocking revelation made by one of the news channel on 15/10/2013 about siphoning off of wheat grains, meant for PDS, from FCI godowns to the black market in Delhi startled me – for the simple fact that it hardly took a few months to prove my apprehensions right! Really sad and a matter of great concern.

Unbelievably low price of even Rupees 2/- a kg might prove to be a great boon for majority of the poor, but at the same time it is also a very good business proposition for anyone in this food chain who can lay hand on it with intention of minting money. And there is big money! If one could sell it even at Rs. 10/- a kg, there is clean profit margin of 400%!! Cool money can be made out of the empty stomachs.

The food grains meant for filling the empty bellies of the poor has already started finding route to the well established flour mills engaged in the business of  packaged flour. Many more strings might be attached to it. Are we in for a second ‘fodder scam’? This time scam in food for human, for a change!

 

                                       

With so much of money involved in it and with millions of hungry poor to feed, the government needs to put a foolproof system in place to make the Food Security Bill effective in real sense. Else, apart from the middlemen and businessmen involved in it, even political parties might use it as a potential source for party funding!

Who knows the real intentions of the benefactors behind the pain of the hungry poor! 

बचपन के पन्नोँ से - छुट्टियों के वो दिन

छुट्टी के दिनों में, खासकर गर्मी की छुट्टियों में गाँव के हम बच्चों के पास समय ही समय होता था। सुबह दस बजे तक खाना खा कर हम अपने घरों से निकल कर दालान पर गप-शप करते। वहाँ खेलते-कूदते और उकताकर सामने स्थित महादेव मंदिर में जा बैठते। वहाँ बड़े-बुज़ुर्गों की बात-चीत सुनते, उन्हें सुन कभी आश्चर्य करते, कभी खिलखिलाते और कभी अपनी इन हरकतों पर उनसे डांट खा जाते। इसलिये हमारा सबसे पसंदीदा जगह हमारे आम की फुलवारी थी, जहाँ हम चिड़ियों की भांति स्वच्छंदता से समय बिताते।

आम के इस फुलवारी में मैंने जीवन के कुछ बहुत हसीन लम्हे जीये हैं। उस समय फुलवारी में खेलना जो एक बड़ी स्वाभाविक सी बात लगती थी, आज मेरे लिये और उसी उम्र के आज मेरे बेटे के लिये ये कितने दुर्लभ हो गये हैं!

फुलवारी में हम बड़ी तैयारी के साथ जाते थे। हम में से हर कोई कुछ न कुछ लेकर आता। किसी के हाथ में बोरी, किसी के पास रस्सी, कोई कागज की छोटी पोटली में नमक तो कोई लाल मिर्ची का पाउडर और चोरी छिपे गमछे में लपेट कर चाकू! ये सब हमारे फुलवारी में समय बिताने की न्यूनतम आवश्यकताएं थीं।

फुलवारी पहुँचने के साथ हम पेड़ की नीची लचीली डालियों पर चढ़ जाते, दोनों पैरों को लटकाकर अपनी नन्हे हाथों से तने को मजबूती से पकड़ जोर से हिलाते, झुलते और हमें ऐसा प्रतीत होता था जैसे हम सब बड़े कुशल घुड़सवार हों। घुड़सवारी से थक कर हम पेड़ से नीचे उतरते और गिरे हुए आम के टिकोले चुनते। हम में से कोई रस्सी बाँध कर झूला लगाता और कोई टिकोलों को छिल कर इसके कच्चे गूदे को चाकू से छोटे-छोटे महीन टुकड़ों में काटता। खट्टे आम के टूकड़ों को गमछे पर रख नमक और लाल मिर्च का पाउडर छिड़का जाता और सही तरह इन्हे मिला कर गमछे से ही पोटली बनाकर ईंट या पत्थर पर घुमा-घुमा कर इसे पटका जाता था। इस तरह तैयार हुआ करता था हमारा चटपटा ‘घुम-घुमौवा’। आज भी इसका स्वाद ध्यान आते ही जीभ प्रचूर मात्रा में लार छोड़ने लगता है। ऐसी ही छोटी-छोटी बातों में दिन कब गुजर जाता था, अंदाज़ ही नहीं होता था।

रात का होना और दालान के छ्त पर, खुले आसमान के नीचे हम सभी बच्चे अपना-अपना बिछौना डाल कर मनपसंद जगह बड़े लोगों के आने के पह्ले ही घेर लिया करते थे। खुले आसमान के नीचे चाँद और सितारों की बादलों के साथ आँख मिचौली बड़ी अच्छी लगती थी। कभी बादल के एक समूह पर नज़र जाता, विचित्र आकृतियां दिखलाई देती जो पल भर बाद बदल जाती थीं। लेटे-लेटे दिन भर के धमाल की चर्चा होती, गिले-शिकवे होते और निद्रा अपने आगोश में कब ले लेती थी, पता ही नहीं चलता था।

कितने अनूठे थे वो दिन!

आज भी हमारे पास ये चाँद – सितारे हैं, बादल हैं; लेकिन अफसोस की इनकी सुंदरता को देखने का, समझने का न अब वक्त रहा, न समझ रहा। दुर्भाग्यवश, हमने अपने बच्चों से भी यह छीन लिया है!

Let Us Empower Our Youths to Make 'Mera Bharat Mahaan' by 2020!

Each of us want to remain young and youthful. The reason for it is - it symbolizes energy, charm, ideas and productivity. As we age, we gain experience and become better equipped to face the challenges, but we surely start losing the qualities that symbolizes a young mind. While it is true at individual level, it holds true as a nation too! There are nations like the USA, Japan, Singapore and many others which grew in all the sense of modern parameters - because they marshalled all their resources with maturity and sincerity towards their people. We, as a nation missed out on it despite gaining independence more than six decades ago, which is a pretty good time to make things work. Unfortunately it didn't work for us, may be because our leadership at National level is not matured enough or they do not have the will to rise above the petty politics of vote, caste, region and

religion. Our leaders and policy makers didn't use their magnanimity and experience in the last six decades and we still remain a country of poor citizens.

By chance or design, after gaining Independence, India is presenting itself again with an opportunity by making itself the youngest nation in the world - with youth population touching an estimated figure of about 450 millions and median age of about 25 years by 2020! 64 percent of our population is expected to be in the working age group. Nothing can be better than this, as a nation!

But, are we readying ourselves? Are the policies being framed for the country to make the best use of this opportunity? Will the youths themselves guide the nation to prosperity? Is this opportunity, just a myth? Let us ask ourselves, what we can do, how we can contribute? Let us ask our employers what they can do? Let us ask the policymakers at all levels - are they aware of the opportunity and what they intend to do and when?

Today's youth have lot of challenges- though more than before but their are limited opportunities available to them due to inadequate education, skill and guidance. Majority of them are clueless and directionless about their future. Exceptions are there where people have excelled despite all odds, but it can't be a rule for all. It is high time to channelize their energy into right direction, else it may lead to disillusionment and unrest in their minds. Their energy needs to be harnessed in the national interest.

       

Kids of middle and high income group living in cities may have access to quality education and training, and hence they may ready themselves for 2020 and beyond for contributing meaningfully to their and national prosperity. But most of the kids in rural areas and in cities - who don't get even a square meal a day, can't be expected to grow physically and mentally to the desired level for giving their contribution in nation's growth. Despite having the age in their favour, country would miss out badly if proactive actions are not taken right away by the government at all levels with hundred percent sincerity.

Various reports suggest that a very high percentage of the graduates are unemployable including the engineers and the MBAs! Such reports are screaming about our faulty education system. Our education must empower the youth, add value to them, help enhancing their skills and make them a sought after human being for their qualities. Efforts should be made to see the kids grow into a youth full of dreams and at the same time creating enough opportunities for them to succeed.

Today there is a wide gap between 'haves' and 'have nots'. This gap needs to be closed by bringing all youths into the category of 'haves'. This is possible only by the magnanimous efforts of the policy makers - politicians and the bureaucrats at all levels, businessmen, all well to do families, the educationists, business houses and we all who can read and write and share whatever we can. We can do it by educating the kids of our domestic helps, by donating in terms of fees for acquiring academic qualification to youths around us who are poor but are good in studies, sharing our skills and knowledge or at least our time to help them resolve their issues. If not for total strangers, even if we resolve to do it for our poor relatives and close acquaintances, it would go a long way in uplifting the society.

Let us move sincerely in rightfully claiming our status as a youthful Youngest Nation and bringing prosperity to all by 2020. Then only together, we can make and proudly shout - Mera Bharat Mahaan! Else, in the year 2020 also it will remain mere a slogan - unmindfully written here, there and everywhere- a living sarcasm on ourselves and our attitude.

Let us give some breathing space to the kids and their grandparents!

Urbanisation has robbed the kids and senior citizens of their sweet time. While kids have lost their childhood in the emerging trend of city life, senior citizens lack the much needed calm environment around them.

In the last two decades India has seen unprecedented migration of its citizen, from one part of the country to other part, from villages to the cities in search of better  job opportunities and better life. Millions of us from villages left our homes and have preferred to settle in cities. The cities which used to be sparsely populated are now brimming with people, drawn from every part of our society, from every religion, with different languages and different geographical locations. This shift has helped India in better understanding of each other, better understanding of common issues and integrating the ordinary Indians together in raising a stronger voice for addressing of their issues and concerns.

While urbanisation has helped millions of us in realising our dreams to some extent, it has also resulted in the sorry state of the cities. Increasing population has put lot of strain on the cities, their infrastructure and on the people themselves. Cities have expanded in terms of bigger buildings, malls, hotels and big institutions but infrastructure didn’t develop to cater to the basic needs of the increasing population. Authorities didn’t give much thought in planning and developing the cities. Slowly, the open areas and green cover in most of the cities have been lost and what remains is the concrete jungle with concrete flyovers and asphalt roads leaving little for the people to breathe free and relax in the open!

Urbanisation has changed us a lot. In the hard pressed life of today, whenever we get some time to spend with family, we either rush to cinema hall or to a mall or to a restaurant. We keep running and keep spending to entertain and relax ourselves! As a grown up urban adult, our requirements are totally different from that of the kids and the senior citizens, say our parents. While we keep busy ourselves in our occupation, we don’t have much time to ourselves and hence today we don’t even get the time to feel the absence of open spaces!

I wonder how much we have changed. As a child, we used to play hours together in the open fields without any attention of the parents. Parents too didn’t bother much as they knew that their child is in the vicinity and nothing untoward will happen.  Today our children are deprived of such luxury. There are no open spaces, no fields and no parks. I pity that they are growing up without much physical activity. We all want our children to be healthy and robust, to be cheerful and energetic, to be creative and original. Unfortunately, we do not have the time and infrastructure for indulging them in such activities. Very few children might be getting such an opportunity. We, as a parent, do not allow our children to go out and play on the road and we must not – as it is not safe. The only alternative then remains is to keep them confined within the closed spaces of our flat and switch on the TV or Computer games for them. It is a compulsion for both – the parents as well as the children. Such situation is only going to make them weak and stunt their growth – mentally as well as physically. It is true for the aged people, who remain confined within the comfort of their home.

In any city in India, for that matter it is Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad or a specific locality like ours – in Chandkheda, I don’t find parks and playgrounds that caters to the needs of young kids, say upto twelve years of age. Similarly, for the senior citizens too I don’t find any such open space for them to relax and share quality time with their grandsons, granddaughters and their friends. Some cities can boast of parks and gardens, but they are very few in numbers compared to the requirement based on population of the area. Parks and gardens are also generally away from the residential areas and hence inaccessible to the general public and particularly to the kids and the aged people.

Mumbai has only 2.5% open space in cities in terms of gardens, parks, including open parking spaces. which translates to about 1.95 square meter per person. Cities like Chandigarh and Delhi are better off with about 35% and 20% open space respectively. If we calculate open space available for the kids and citizens, it would it would be mere fraction of the above percentages. As far as Ahmedabad is concerned, as per a TOI report (Jun 9, 2013) the open space in Ahmedabad city is merely 2% which translates to just 0.42 square meter area of open space per person, far below of the specified standard of 8-10 sq m per person as per Urban Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (UDPFI) guidelines.

With increasing urbanisation, and the way infrastructure is being developed, the problem is going to compound with time. It is high time that the Municipal Corporations and the AUTHORITIES wake up to the needs of the kids and the senior citizens and the issues are addressed for a better life for them. Let the kids begin their journey full of happiness in the open surroundings and let the aged sum it up living blissfully in the company of their kids and friends in a serene environment.

madhukarmohan@gmail.com

We First Create Tragedies and Then We Mourn it! Be it the Bhopal Gas Tragedy or the Floods in Uttarakhand!

I remember the night of 2^nd December 1984 for two reasons –firstly, for the great relief, we – the first year students got because of the Fresher’s Night – marking the end of the long testing period of ragging. And secondly, for the worst-ever industrial accident of our times – the Bhopal Gas tragedy!

In the morning of 3^rd December 1984 – we woke up relaxed – as ragging period was over! Being Monday, we had our classes and we were looking forward for attending our classes and going around the college without any fear of seniors. But, we saw something very unusual– number of local men, women, children were seen in our campus – confused and exhausted. Only then did we know about the unfortunate tragedy that had struck Bhopal. While we were celebrating our newly found freedom, thousands died and thousands were fighting an invisible enemy that was choking them to death. We remained unaffected primarily because of the wind direction (and also our college MACT - now MANIT- is far and located on a hill).

On knowing about the extent of tragedy thru Radio and Doordarshan, we all decided to skip college and rushed to the nearby hospitals. I still remember my visit to Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal with my friends on 3^rd December 1984 – the chaos in the campus with hundreds of men and women, young and old, some dead and some writhing in pain with badly swollen red eyes crying for their lives– still make me shudder with pain. Same was the situation at Hamidia Hospital and other hospitals that our college mates visited to help the victims. The previous night i.e. on 2^nd December 1984 – the leakage of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas from Union Carbide proved too costly for many precious lives. Thousands died, thousands who could survive still suffer from severe ailments and it is learnt that a large number of mothers who were exposed to MIC gave birth to babies with congenital defects! Images of truckloads of dead bodies that I saw, still remains etched deeply in my memory. It hurt me, I still feel the pain.

It is learnt that on investigation it was found that scheduled maintenance, routine inspection, timely action would have saved these lives! Precautions -as simple as that! Alas, we do not learn!

Such accidents keep on happening under different settings, may be at different scales – killing one or ten or more - in a small explosion at one of the small crackers factory of Sivakasi or the big ones that shook Jaipur due to fire in IOC depot or the landslides of various magnitudes that keep taking place along the rail and road routes in hilly terrain. All such accidents could be prevented, provided we learnt from the past experiences.

Only we are to be blamed for the recent tragedy at Kedarnath and other parts of Uttarakhand - cloud bursts and landslides in hilly areas are known phenomena. Hence, any development plan in such area must take care of such natural events and happenings and should be planned for the worst. But, who has the time to devote time for such things.

As third world country, for India and Indians - money is precious and lives are cheap. Money has to be minted at any cost – be it at the individual level, municipality level, district level, state level or national level – forgetting the safety aspects and lives of common citizens. The ordinary lives are in such a large number that lives lost in such accidents do not matter much apart from making headlines and catching attention in a sensational fashion by the electronic media only until it sells and grabs the desired TRPs.

In the last three years, I have been visiting Himachal Pradesh very frequently and during these visits during summer, monsoon and winter – one thing has been common – landslides along the road! Within a stretch of say sixty kilometres of hilly track that I travel by road, during summer landslides are very occasional and at much smaller scale, in monsoons I have witnessed  on an average four to five landslides of enough magnitude to shake your confidence and during winters the frequency and magnitude again reduces. During these visits, what I have noticed is that the hills are primarily of soil embedded with rounded gravels of varying sizes – typical of those found on the riverbed and hence, these hills are not rock solid but loose and very much susceptible to landslides especially during the monsoon. As far as my understanding goes, these hills need lot of support at the denuded edges in order to support their own weight and minimize landslides. My common sense says that geographically speaking these hills are not made of volcanic eruptions but out of the movement of section of the earth forcing the planes and riverbed into various folds and bends exposing years and years of deposits made on the riverbed in multi layers to rise high and take shape of hills. On the denuded side of the hills – along the serpentine roads – where the hills have been cut to make space for the road, one can see from a distance a number of parallel layers one over the other tilted and rising from the ground to form the hill. These hills are fine examples for the geography teachers to educate their school students about the sedimentation process and faults and folds.

While it is interesting to see and appreciate these layers as a layman, what disturbs me is that barring some reinforced stretches along the open side of the road; the other side where the hills have been cut to make space for the road remains exposed for most of the stretch. This makes them highly susceptible for landslides during the monsoon as the exposed side of these hills become weak because of exposure to rains and they start falling under their own weight.

I wonder why the reinforcement of exposed side of the hills have been overlooked? May be because no civil engineer or the government gave it a thought? It is highly improbable. High costs could be one reason. Nevertheless, that is not a good enough reason to barter for human lives and willfully play with the environment.

The tragedy that struck Uttarakhand as a result of bad weather in the month of June 2013 got more pronounced and deadly just because of the mindless development (sic) of the hills – to mint money – at all levels. Had there been no construction alongside the riverbanks, had there been reinforcements along the denuded side of the hills, had there been genuine concern for the environment, had there been contented greed and had there been some consideration for human lives – such devastation could have been avoided.

Now, whatever relief package is announced, Uttarakhand won’t be same. Post this tragedy, the roads may be rebuilt, the hotels may again rise, the tourists may again flock to the revered Kedarnath Temple, the elections may be won, money would be minted at different levels and those who didn’t  lose anything in this tragedy may forget all this after a while. However, the damages that environment has suffered, thousands of lives that perished, thousands of those who lost their near and dear ones, their pain, their suffering cannot be reversed!

It is high time that the Central and State governments review the environmental and development related policies, monitor them, implement them with sincerity – without looking for short term gains. Today, in the name of development – whatever is being done is not enough. All the stakeholders need to rise above their petty personal gains and contribute whole heartedly to the cause of the common people and the environment. First, we should develop as a responsible citizen – the prime requirement to collectively develop as a Nation.

My heart goes out to all the lives that perished and their aggrieved family members. May your sacrifice help us in waking up from the deep slumber! Let us rise!

Do not buy gold!

We Indians are known to have special liking for gold. The luster of this yellow metal seems to have a never ending hypnotic effect on us Indians, especially the women who never seem to get bored of it! Even men are attracted to it; for instance - Bappi da- the musician- whom you might have never seen without a kilo of it on his body. Many of our cricketers love to show off their heavy yellow metal chains – while bowling to the opposition – as if to demorallise them more by their heavy gold chains, rather than by their bowling strength. Lure of gold has known to ruin many a homes and lives, but despite living in the spiritual India - we as an Indian have been always blinded by its  ‘chamak-damak’. It is time to say goodbye to it and learn to live.

It reminds me about a story, probably from the collection of Panchatantra, in which a man was always worried about the safety of his riches and he always spent his nights tossing on the bed – fearing that someone would take away all his valuables. One of his trusted friend suggested him to exchange all his  riches with gold bars – so that it would become manageable for him to stock and keep a vigil. He did so and hid it in his home, but the worry that someone would steal all his life time earnings -kept him awake. It continued for more than a week. Then he called his trusted friend and told him about his problem of insecurity. This time his friend suggested him to carry all his gold bars to the jungle and burry it there and to ensure that no one sees him doing it. He asked him not to disclose it to anyone – to ensure that the gold remains safe and secured in the jungle. In the dead of night he bundled all his gold bars in a packet and left for jungle, hid the packet under a tree returned relieved. He had sound sleep after a long time, for a few nights. After a while he thought of checking the gold bar packet, he made a round of the spot and came relieved on seeing that – the earth under the tree was not disturbed by anyone. He would then occasionally visit the jungle and glance through the area to ensure that no one dug it out. Months passed. One fine morning during one of his visits to the spot, he found that the earth has been dug out and the gold packet has been removed. He returned home, shocked and shattered – but he didn’t disclose it to anyone. A few days later, his trusted friend visited him who was shocked to see his poor health and know the loss of his riches. The friend gave him solace and asked him not to worry. The friend requested the man to take him to the spot to recheck it. They reached the spot and to ensure about the gold bars, they dug here and there – but found nothing -the gold bars were not there. The man was inconsolable now. The trusted friend asked him a few questions – like what was the size of the packet, what was the weight of the packet, etc. Next day the friend returned to the spot with a packet in his hand and the man following him. He asked the man to fill the box with stones lying there. Upon filling the box with stones, he sealed the box and hid it at the same spot. The friend turned to the man, there lies your gold – buried like before, be relaxed and live happily now! The man looked perplexed. The friend put his hands over his shoulders and asked him to imagine that the packet buried by them is full of gold. He said that the gold that was earlier buried there for months together was actually of no use to him, as all these months he didn’t need it for any of his requirements and would not require it in future too. It had no actual value to him and hence it was worthless. The friend asked him to imagine that the stones that were now buried by them is pure gold – and not to fear anymore for its theft. It changed the life of the man, who lived happily thereafter.

I have narrated this story just to give an analogy – of the buried gold bars particularly with bank lockers that one keeps and maintains to store all kind of gold jewelry accumulated with all the hard work – which keeps lying there for years and years – does it make any sense to hoard the gold mindlessly!  Why not put your money to a more productive use? It is said that flow is life, same is true for money – let it flow in the form of donations, service, education, business and anything that benefits the society. And anything that benefits the society, benefits you!

Coming to Indian economics on import of gold - Gold’s share in total import bill of the country has gone up from 8.1 per cent in 2001-02 to 9.6 per cent in 2010-11. In value terms, it has risen from US $ 4170.4 million in 2001-02 to US $ 33875.7 million in 2010-11. A growth rate of 63.5 percent is witnessed for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11. During the same period the Petroleum, Crude and products – occupying the numero uno position in terms of share of import bill has marginally declined from 31.0% to 30.1%. Import bill of gold is certainly weighing us down.

Concern of the government, expressed by Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram in urging the people to not buy gold for one year and that gold is not the safest investment is worth noting. I can’t say about the safe investments, but certainly let us not waste and block our hard earned money in buying and hoarding gold.

Let our money flow, let it have life, let it make lives!