Corruption and opportunism- two sides of the same coin

The other day as I was walking from my office across the road in Sector V when suddenly I saw a group of so called enthusiastic people walking in a group shouting slogans like “Long Live Anna Hazare”, and stuff like that. (Of course it brought traffic to a standstill in the busy evening). Well, it made me think, “why is there so much hullaballoo about this Hazare guy, who is he

”. 

Well, for those who do not know this guy, Kisan Baburao Hazare aka Anna is nowadays considered to be the messiah who has taken a vow to eradicate the term corruption from India. To him, the source of corruption is the Jan Lokpal Bill, once that is prevented. India will be corruption free. Good ridiculous cause indeed. And as it always happens in India, gurus get followers easily- so we have thousands lining up to support him, hailing him as a true hero. Yes we are all fed up with corruption, but what we fail to understand is that by supporting people by Anna Hazare, we are indirectly supporting another breed of corrupt individuals, ac corruption from different kind- opportunism.

 To me people like Anna are like parasites who survive on the food of another animal. Well, Hazare and his followers are well happy surviving on the corruption of the government. The more corrupt the government gets- the more bread and butter will they get to build up a public opinion and sympathy. And who knows sooner or later he may form a political party and contest in the elections. We have already seen some big babaji, go on fast, and suddenly declare “I want to join politics”.  So why not this Anna too? I ask In fact these types of people want corruption to breed more, or else they will not flourish. They are using each step of corruption to make their own political platform, and we buffoons are supporting them. To fight corruption needs a strong will power, and not some stupid drams like fasting on Ramlila Maidan, under the umbrella of media cameras. There have been numerous instances where honest people have successfully stood up against corruption in their own manner, but nobody cares about them. It was because they were more committed to the cause, rather than gaining public glare and recognition.

In an interview about the Anna Hazare issue, Rahul Bose has right said, “‘we all want to eradicate corruption. If something like that happens we all will be helped.  But this particular incident where Anna Hazare is going on a fast is complicated. It’s not simple. Who all are along with him, who wants to take the profit of it at Jantar Mantar, who actually believes in it and who doesn’t?” This is exactly what it should be; we should first think about the issue, and not follow someone blindly.

So the next time, if you are really concerned about corruption- start in your small way. If you see a policeman taking bribe on the road, protest against that.   Do not join the crowd and support someone baselessly, or else ultimately you are going to be fooled by these humbugs. Always remember “charity begins at home”

The right to say- " lets call life quits"

Call it quits

                       “Sleep, the everlasting sleep”

So you have decided to call it a day. Loss of job, failed relations or marriage, terminal illnesses- there may be hundreds of reasons, well whatever be the case, it’s time that you have decided to call it quits from life and sleep that everlasting peaceful eternal slumber. Well, I guess one has understood it; I am taking about death, and moreover dying by yourself. But then, society rejects and that’s what makes you think “to die or not to die”. So killing or rather dying yourself, is it really a sin?

Well, most religions across the world, no matter how much meager or fragile they may be, denounce suicide as sin and the person who does it is considered to go to hell or receive God’s wrath. (God’s curse- how many times has this baseless sentiment prevented you from thinking something different?  They even said that Galileo was an anti-God, and burnt Joan of Arc on the stakes in the pretext of religion.) However, Hindu religion does support suicide to some extent. According to it, a man can end one’s life through non violent means, which is known as Prayopavesa. And for Prayopavesa to take place, one should have no ambition or responsibilities left in life.  So, going by religion as well, suicide is not a crime.

And now to the priests who say suicide is a sin. Ask those people to share your sorrows and hardships and lead you to the path of hope. You will find none. These priests are only concerned in licking money from disciples and followers under the name of religion and you fall a prey to their greed. So if you feel like taking the end step, don’t think about some stupid priests or holy people.

In this age of increased democracy, when there is so much hullaballoo about rights and all these, we perhaps tend to forget one of the basic rights of a human being- “the right to live, and a right to die”. It’s my life, if I wish to live, I do; and if I wish to end it, I can do that too. So what’s the harm? Suicide is not about compulsion, it’s about choice.  And the choice rests on the individual, and not on society, government or any other third person- singular or plural.

So, if one really feels like taking that extreme step and shutting out life, it’s his or her own choice and society should respect it.  It’s time that we break out from the shackles of those irrational, baseless and self centered religious and social customs and start looking at life in an absolutely independent and liberal way.

                                                      “I don’t want to live”

                                     “So I sell the mind and pervert corpse of mine”

                                         

                                   

Railway Budget- populist or reformist?

Mamata Banerjee

The Indian Rail Budget of 2011 has been announced by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and as always there have been lots of ifs and buts about it. While the ally congress (the Prime Minister too) has hailed the budget has a common man’s, opposition CPIM was quick to declare it as populist one in the press conference. As always, this year too there has been lots of expectations about it as the railways form an integral part of the country. Let’s put the budget on an ‘aam aadmi’ weight balance.

Before making any measurements about the budget, let’s bring into the fact that Miss Banerjee is about to face the biggest challenge of her life, ousting the left from West Bengal and bring it that ‘we shall change’ factor. As such it was expected that her state would be a bit more gainer than others in the budget. Well, everyone looks after his or her state and here Mamata too was absolutely right.  At least, this much of gratefulness and faithfulness we should expect from politicians and ministers.

To keep intact the populist factor, there was no fare increase (rather no decrease too). Mamata predecessor Lalu Prasad Yadav had started this process and she too seems to like it well enough. In India, such steps can really earn you kudos. Our passengers don’t mind the under satisfactory rail services, but are too apprehensive to spend a penny more for getting better facilities. Doing honors to this sentiment, the minister said “no price hike”.

More trains, more toilets, more stations and more computers in stations: seems to be a big agenda in this rail budget. To lure those who are working, new Karmabhoomi trains and for our mothers, sisters and wives- more Matribhoomi trains (forget the ill equipped services which may make these trains a harrowing experience for women). And yes more electrification of train tracks- again a reminder that a major part of India still needs to be electrified even in this 21^st century.

A good thing about this rail budget is that impetus has been given to business. A politician who had once vehemently resisted the Singur Plant and had driven the Tatas out is now stressing on more business through rail. The result – a metro coach factory in Singur (the same place where she had once acted anti-business, a diesel locomotive plant in Manipur, a bridge factory in Kashmir, etc etc. No doubt a very noble step, but remains to be seen the execution and implementation factor.

Another impressive thing about the budget is its stress on tourism. Perhaps this is the first time where a rail minister has given so much importance on railway share in tourism and has realised the fact that our railways play a big role in making “Incredible India” really incredible. New tourist trains named ‘Bharatpeeth’ have been introduced; trains with museums have been introduced and plans are there even to set up railway hotels. If these are done properly, Indian tourism will get a big fillip and will also add to the railway’s coffers. Indeed a great and appreciative step.

So in a nutshell, the railway budget 2011 can get an even balance. It’s a 50:50 proposition and remains to be seen how much it will be implemented, once the rail minister gets to the seta of Chief Minister (that’s what she is hoping for at least).

Peace can be the answer to non-insurgency

The other day I was reading an interesting article in a newspaper, which described and analyzed the sweeping changes that are gradually taking place in Manipur and other places in the North East. The report highlighted how the army along with some NGOs and the local administration has started developmental activities, which in fact has been a significant factor towards bringing peace in the insurgent prone state and other areas. Gone are those days of gun battles, bloodsheds and dead bodies. Manipur has started seeing a new dawn, thanks to the overall and unanimous support of the civic administration and the army. Well, after reading this report, it made me wonder, what if this idea is implemented across the whole country as an alternative yet constructive way to end terrorism. 

Well, the first thing that needs to be done is to teach, but not preach. It’s always been a tendency of the government to dictate and use force to combat any insurgency problem, without in fact trying to delve deep into the matter and end the cause which created it. Had the government done that, Maoist troubles would not have ever broken out or the demand for Telengana would not have been made. Anyways, better late than never and now our administration can really act positive to end such troubles. Using guns to frighten can do nothing but only accumulate hatred. Only by knowing and judging the sentiments of the people can a country succeed, or else it will lead to civil war, sooner or later.

The Manipur strategy can really be a great example, to be followed else where. There, you have the army and forces that have joined hands with the administration to undertake developmental activities. Starting from building roads to organizing free medical check ups, a wide range of positive steps are being taken to instill confidence and trust on the government. In fact, rehabilitation programs have also been started for the surrendered insurgents, who are now leading a comfortable life with good jobs in the government sectors. The same strategies can be undertaken in other tension prone places to promote and bring that atmosphere of peace, trustworthiness and brotherhood between the government and common people.

Of course our politicians have to be honest enough and support such initiatives and only then such initiatives can be successful. A hyperbolic statement, but then if the armed forces can, our bureaucrats and ministers can also do their bit to make the nation a better and peaceful place.

The road to peace lies in the government’s hands and unless they act, nothing can improve. Development, not bullets is the answer!