A fight against Corruption or PM?

There was Hitler, Mussolini, Hossni Mubarak, Gadaffi and the latest to join the list is our anti corruption crusader Mr.Kisan Baburao Hazare urf Anna Hazare. Yes, by his appearance you don't get scared and think of him as a dictator but if you carefully think about his policies then you will agree with me. He has been fighting to remove corruption from few years but as this year he came in the limelight, he gradually moved his focus from the main issue to the less important aspect. He started off a fast unto death on 5 April 2011 to exert pressure on Indian Government to enact a strong anti corruption act as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, a law to establish a Lokpal with the power to deal with corruption in public offices. Citizens from all over India gathered to support him. They got a new ray of hope that finally someone from the public has risen to stand upfront and protest against corruption. The fast ended on 9 April, The government issued a gazette notification on the formation of a joint committee (of government and civil society representatives) to draft an effective Lokpal Bill.


Anna addressed the people and set a deadline of 15 August 2011 to pass the Lokpal Bill in the Indian Parliament.


"Real fight begins now. We have a lot of struggle ahead of us in drafting the new legislation, We have shown the world in just five days that we are united for the cause of the nation. The youth power in this movement is a sign of hope."
We were happy, our sufferings were about to end but as every good thing comes to end it also ended in disappointment. The civil society team led by Hazare in the demands made to Government said they wanted to include PM under the preview of Lokpal. From this point his protest against corruption became the conflict against the Prime Minister. From then he has been fighting for this demand more than anything else. What difference does it makes if PM is not under the purview of Lokpal.A common man doesn't get to meet Prime Minister at any point of time in his life , we don't even elect him directly. In our everyday life, we have to deal with Government employers, police officers, or the ministers who we vote in the elections. Instead of demanding PM to come under Lokpal, the focus should be shifted on government officials and ministers coming under Lokapl, so that the corruption can be removed from the roots. We all know that this country cant survive without corruption for few hours. Therefore, it has to be prevented from the grassroots levels. If we don't wear seat belts or if our child is not getting a good school to study then there should be laws that makes our work done in an easy way instead of paying heavy donations.
I agree Anna is fighting for us but then he has made his opinions prejudiced and wants all of us to believe in it. We do respect him and his ideologies. But, then if he wants to bring about real change and destroy the corruption completely then he should protest to bring our Ministers and Officers under Lokpal. Because in India we are not lucky enough like Shahrukh Khan in My Name is Khan who gets to meet the President to just say he is not a terrorist, infact if we can only catch a glimpse of our PM then it will be a lifetime opportunity for us.

Whose Land is it?

The Allahabad High Court cancelled the land acquisition in Patwari village, Noida. The High Court ordered 589 hectares of land taken by state government be returned to farmers immediately. In total 300 hectares of land has been acquired by the state government. The farmers are facing crisis since 2008, when the land was acquired citing the urgency clause. The order came a fortnight after the Supreme Court had cancelled acquisition of 156 hectares of land by the state government in village Shahberi in the area. With the judgment, farmers are breathing a sigh of relief and it has given farmers from other villages a sign of hope.

On the one hand the judgment is a moment of celebration for the farmers, but on the other hand it has put buyers and GNIDA authorities in a state of dilemma. The land was used by GNIDA to build residential homes and approx 50,000 buyers have already purchased the homes. The land was acquired by GNIDA in the name of industrial work but later on 11 real estate experts were called upon and given the land to build residential apartments. One lakh flats were booked and the buyers have invested huge sums of money to purchase their dream home, but now it seems only a dream without a home. Buyers are protesting against the judgment and have challenged the court’s decision.  The court has asked the authorities to shift the housing projects to other place and return the money of buyers.

The court has also decreased the role of state government in land acquisition and increased the compensation given to farmers.  The GNIDA is facing the largest loss as half the land has been used. Supertech and Unitech groups are the companies who have suffered the most.

State government plans to build flyovers, racing tracks, metro links on the land has also failed due to the move. The government has also proposed the National Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Bill, 2011. It allows the buyers to directly acquire the land from farmers. Compensation must be twice the amount the land has in the market. The consent of 80 per cent of the people of the area where land is to be acquired will also become mandatory.

Now, buyers, farmers, authorities are awaiting the judgment due on August 16^th, till then court has ordered them to do out of the court settlement.

With land being such a burning issue and everyone’s hopes are relied on the land, we can just ask ‘whose land is it’.

The big question about jaitapur.

Protestations against the 9,900 mw jaitapur nuclear power project hyperbolized after one man got killed and seven injured in a row between protesters and police forces. In reataliation the mob set the ratnagiri police station on fire, the administration responsively installed 144 in the area.

The key points of the protestation is the insufferable land acquisition policies of government and check imposed by the government on the fishermen right to access the sea water, the only source of their livelihood.

Moreover people are also pessimistic about the fukushima like prospects in case any tsunami like situation occurs in the area. While the state government has already stated that the site of the nuclear power project lies 50 m above the sea level and has ruled out the strong chances of any nuclear incidence.

Notwithstanding the viewpoint of environment ministry and state government, people are seeking a rethink over the issue. Reports say that the nuclear safety was never the issue on the mandatory public hearings and environment clearance.

The political game has already beagan in the backdrop of issue. The sources also suggested that the protest has the backing of Shiv Sena who wants to conquer the lost vote ground.

Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh remarked that the rage in jaitapur also has some political agenda linked to it, he said that the some political minds are in habit to comment on such issues because they are helpless about it.

The ghost that came out of CD.

Another controversy surfaced on Saturday when a cd containing private conversations between former law minister and RTI activist Shanti Bhushan, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, occurred in the public domain.

The news spread profusely trough the sections of media. Prashant bhushan, senior lawyer and son of Shanti Bhushan quoted, “it is an ugly attempt to smear the campaign against corruption and intends to malign the image of the public representatives who are the part of drafting committee for Jan lokpal bill”.

Shanti Bhushan straightaway passed the cd to forensic experts for examination and analysis of the voice. Subsequently, as the forensic report came out, Shanti Bhushan made statement to media, revealing that the cd was fabricated and the voices are been mixed up and spliced”. He alleges that Amar Singh may have a hand in instigating the controversy.

Contrariwise Amar Singh said that the voice of Shanti Bhushan in cd is original. He also went on to hand over the other versions of cd to the police in the Indraprasth police station. Immidiately after this, he conducted a press meeting at his home where he opened a front against the Bhushan’s.

The water became murkier when he attacked the Bhushan’s with the charges of corruption. Amar singh asked the noted lawyer to give his voice sample in order to establish the authenticity of the cd, suggesting that he considered the cd to be genuine. He also marked that the Bhushans are behind the circulation of the controversial tapes conataining illegally taped phone conversations, despite a ban been called upon by SC.

The question now arises is that, why has the cd surfaced at this conjucture when the Anna Hazare and the company is on the verge of drafting a indispensable bill in collaboration with the government representatives?

Anna Hazare expressed his disappointment over this in a letter written to UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi saying that all the corrupt people seems to have got united and are trying to derail the process of drafting the bill.

The anti-corruption movement crusader urged Sonia Gandhi to restrain her colleagues. His letter projected resentment towards the statements made by Digvijay singh in which Singh had questioned Bhushan’s about the recovery notice on their Allahabad property.

Earlier Singh had also criticized Hazare for praising Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi. To this congress spokeperson backed their answer saying that in a democracy everyone has the right to present his or her point of view and congress would not gag its party leaders.

In another statement Anna Hazare crystallized that he would not withdraw his deadline of august 15 for passage of the bill and any failure to meet the deadline would “result in to a mass protest by the people”.- Gaurav Saini

Education system of India – A picture of contradictions.

The landmark passing of the Right to Free And Compulsory Education to Children Act 2009, to provide free education to children between age group 6-14 is a historic moment for the children of India.
India’s education system has made a significant progress over the last few decades, if we go by stats, in the last five years India has seen an unprecedented increase of about 13.7 percent in the primary school enrollment. This is even better in case of girls, as the increase has been measured to about 19.8 percent.

It is to be noted that there were an estimated 8 million 6-14 year age old in India, out of school till 2009. Even with our commendable efforts, 1 out of 4 children left school before reaching grade 5 and almost half before reaching grade 8. Here are some prominent issues associated with the Indian education system  :
Though the number of out of school children has declined considerably from 25 million in 2003 to 7.8 million in 2010, the the percentage of children out of school in populated states like U.P., W. Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, remains a major cause of concern.

Children in India have the right to have at least one qualified and trained teacher for every 30 pupil but the current average stands quite different to it that is 1 teacher for 35 pupil, moreover in states like Jharkhand, M.P., W. Bengal, 1 teacher works with more than 60 students.That means approximately about 1.2 million teachers are still required to fill this gap.One of the biggest problem the education system encounters is that 1 out of every 5 primary teachers do not have minimum required academic qualification. Flabbergasting !!

Drinking Water and Sanitation : At an average of 84 out of 100 school in India have drinking water facilities. But nearly half of the total school in North East, as in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya do not have. Also its worth noticing that at an average of only 65 out of 100 schools have got common toilet facilities.
Thus analyzing critically we come to know that the low quality of infrastructure, number of teachers, quality of teaching (inadequate pedagogic attention.) and quantity of schools are some blocks that are still not well placed in the walls.Here we need changes in both quality of education system and also in the quantity of it, thus the things those require acute attention are : availability of schools to children which is directly related to the access of education.

Another point that requires attention to ponder up on is the the ability of government schools to fetch good teachers, as the teachers do not show any considerable interest to join government school as the salaries are comparatively lesser to those of private.Availability of resources is another thing that become primitive when we talk about government schools. the common picture is, though the government schools have an comprehensive and inclusive study syllabus on paper but in reality the the situation is nothing but ultimate paradox. for example, government schools do have computer studies in their syllabus but their is no computer to be seen in the school premises.

Considering all these factors it  has become essential for government to take the initiative of training more than 1 million new teachers. My opinion says that families and communities have a large role to playto ensure child friendly education, investing in pre-school, reduction in gender disparity by motivating girl education are some of the steps that can provide boost to education condition in country.
I would like to sum up by adding the note that India’s past achievements in education indicates that its is possible to reach the goals set forth by RTE the quench is of taking a cooperative and progressive approach.

Sino Indian relations stapled on Visa

India and China both have shared undoubtedly a great commerce and trade and cultural relationship since the mankind evolution has set in. Both countries have seen a tremendous growth in economy, both stores the capabilities to emerge as the global superpower in the 21 century. But not everything is favoring their aspersions as there are certain misunderstandings, confusion and uncertainties arising in their bilateral relations. Both China and India holds common grounds on issues like global warming, world economy, international trade etc. The trade between the two countries is growing profusely at the rate of 45 % and has touched 60 billion $ at the end of fourth quarter of year 2010. 

On the negative side, even after 14 bilateral negotiations on boundary dispute both countries has yet to draw out an acceptable solution. China maintains its claim over the 90,000 km territory of Arunachal Pradesh at the same time India claims its authority on the Askai Chin in the middle sector, the matter of fact is that china conquered the disputed area of Askai chin in the fateful battle of 1962 from India, though china returned all other occupied areas but did not returned this. Also China does not recognize India sovereignty over Sikkim or as China call it by the name of “Finger Area”.  Though China had accepted India’s sovereignty over Sikkim in 2005 but no official statement was made from it side. 

On the other hand India is wary about China’s presence in the Gilgit Baltistan region of Pakistan occupied Kashmir in north west as Pakistan has lend landmass of about 5,000 sq km to china in this area. There are reports of about 11,000 Chinese troops being present in this region and china is construction 22 secret tunnels in this area. China is also constructing a railway line alongside Karakoram highway, now this raises security concern for India. 

Presently both china and India appear to be involved in some kind of strategic competition. Both are assumed as the rising powers of the word, together both constitutes about 34 % of world population, and are seen as second and third largest developing economy respectively of world at present. In the last 20 years China’s economy has displayed an unprecedented and exceptional growth. China has an ambition of becoming global power and hence it has started pursuing that goal with all sincerity. China interprets that it can not attain its goal of becoming super power until it develops deeper influence in the major part of the world. Presently China is concentrating all its focus towards the South East Asia and Africa. China with the help of tools like economic assistance, investment and trade, is trying to make a favorable image in these areas. With commendable and sincere efforts China has gained a strong foothold in almost all countries surrounding India. This policy of China of encirclement of India is long familiar as “Strings of Pearls”. China has been granted transport facilities at Gwadar port of Pakistan, thus it has direct access to the sea routes surrounding India. Also it has deployed its navy on the Somalian coast to help Somalia fighting pirates shrouding its principle intentions. China has also gained a strong bridgehead in Nepal due to acclivity of Maoist in the country and is already been benefited by the grant of crucial port facilities in nations like Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.  

The other irritant in the relationship is the issuing of special stapled visa for the residents and denying visa to the officials of Indian army posted in Jammu and Kashmir. The stapled visa is basically a separate paper stapled on the common visa. The reason that China gives is that Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory and since no consensus has been reached out together by Pakistan and India on the issue, J & K will cease to be part of India, and china is not going to accept India’s sovereignty over it in any case. At the same time china does not considered visa mandatory for the people of Arunachal Pradesh as it conceives Arunachal Pradesh its own territory, contrary to it, Indians are required to carry visa if in case they have to visit Arunachal Pradesh. India has certainly raised objections in relation to the matter but it has been a typical Chinese policy that first they commit some objectionable activity and later they would deny it or downplay it with absurd explanations. 

The world acknowledges India’s authority over the state of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh excluding China, there were no such instance alike from other countries of the world denying the people of Jammu and Kashmir the standardized visa to natives of J & k, China alone sees the trouble in it. Many times Chinese websites have also shown Arunachal Pradesh as her integral part and map of India excluding J & K region. Resentments from Indian side have time and again forced China to correct herself. These are the major issues hindering the cooperation and development process between the two economies, where China enjoys the advantage of being a hard power, India too have its own advantage of being a soft power as India is appreciated for its democratic order, ideal foreign policy and respect of cultural values.

It is be underlined that in the entire history of the world, no country has succeeded in assuming global power status when confronted by equally strong neighbor. China must also understand that a humble India would be better for her strategic goals. Both countries store the potential to be a great economy and great nation. Both can develop and grow hand in hand. As honorable PM Man Mohan Singh has quoted “the world is big enough for both countries to develop and flourish”

Why do we need Election Reforms ?

There is no second thought about the fact that India is the largest democracy of the world and one of the most powerful democracies in the world indeed. With all its flaws, it has survived for more than 63 years. At the time India gained its independence, people all over the world doubted whether a nation with a mix up of hundreds of religion will able to retain its unified status. But India proved the world wrong and it has founded a solid infrastructure for the economy to evolve and to develop the life standard of its people. In the recent times, it has become common among the general thoughts of the people of India that the country is on the verge of becoming superpower. But the truth is that our country is projecting spectacular growth against the back drop of ramshackle system. Indian democracy is undergoing through a remarkable process of change in the arena of its all three tiers (executive, legislature and judiciary) and it is still to find out as what impact these changes will have on the future of country.

One such big change need to be initiated in the election system of the country. I have no doubt while making this point that the world hails about our humongous election system as it do about our population and keeps a close watch over the periodical election of India

and hence it accounts to the portrayal of the image of Indian democracy. And thus the growing realization is that a lot could be achieved if we have a strengthened election system by removing the loop holes it has and bringing in the best reforms we can, to choose the best body to run the country affairs and the best candidates for the right place, those who can subordinate their own interests before the nation’s good. I would not debate about the duties and the responsibilities of a candidate contesting election and about the positive and negatives of the politicians of India as a lot of time has already been wasted on this rather I would like to draw your attention on the key points and their possible solutions.

In India we can have the opportunity to see the bizarre political scene before and after the election which is off course entirely different to one another. Pronunciamentoes or as we call the manifestoes are single time tool to fool the electorate. It is no secret that the election are fought with the money power, which is gathered from various sources both black and white and once elected you have ample opportunity to repay these sources and also to refill the lockers to fight the next elections and retain the power.

One important step that election commission has taken in this regard is the increase in ceiling on election expenditure in lok sabha and assembly elections. Recently election commission revealed the new expenditure slab, that is, 40 lacs per constituency in bigger states and 22 lacs per smaller constituency. But the question that still arises is, whether this really going to help? When the expenditure is in thousand crores, few lacs seem topping of birthday cake. Astounding facts and figures surfaced during the polls in Tamil Nadu on April 13, as AIADMK chief Jayalalitha made allegations on DMK using freebies to lure electorates. TV channels scratched the scoops and find out that people were willing to vote in exchange of 200 rupee recharge of mobile phone. Whatever the case may be, this was just an example to project that how the elections are contested in India.

Second most important thing that draws my attention to itself is the criminalization of politics. It is worth mentioning that out of 543 members in lok sabha, 153 has cases of some or other type registered against them, 54 have much serious cases, including murder registered against them. There is total of more than 600 elected MLA’s and MP’s who have criminal cases registered against them in various courts.

Earlier booth capturing was a common feature during the polling process in states like Bihar and UP, regards to electronic voting machines as at least some brake have been put to the process. But still the efforts are on to come up with some sort of technique with EVMs too, to manipulate the result of polling. It is still to see whether there sincere efforts will lead to any fruition or not!

In March, 2003, the Supreme Court gave a severe jolt to government and all major political parties by striking a decision in favor of representation of people act by making it mandatory for the candidates contesting elections to declare their criminal antecedents, education, wealth, qualifications etc.

The election commission also brought into the effect the Supreme Court directive on the affidavits to be filed by the candidates contesting elections along with their nomination papers. Also instructions were issued to make media available with the copy of affidavits for the purpose of dissemination of information. Also election commission was successful in creating a model code of conduct to be followed by all political parties and has been able to build consensus among parties on the implementation of it.

Creation of identity card has eliminated the evil of impersonation.

After all these commendable efforts of election system and judiciary we have got to see some considerable changes in the election process of India. A much improved election system is required to make the election process both transparent and accountable so that the influence of illegitimate money from tainted sources and unacceptable force of criminalization does not make democracy a farce.

Anyone can be Hazare, we want corrupt free India.

CORRUPTION- a word that almost every Indian hates and might have gone through the process once in their lifetime. Everyday we tend to complain, protests, curse about it. But, have we ever thought what is root of this evil which has trapped almost every Indian under its fold. Who is to be blamed for starting this process- is it Government, politicians or we ourselves? lets today just look into the history and find out whats the root cause of it and how can we really eliminate this evil from our society. 

The economy of India from 1950s to 80s was ruled by extensive regulation and License Raj which was called the core of corruption. One of the major problems and obstacles to development that many developing countries face is corruption by greedy, power-hungry politicians. In Government Hospitals, corruption is associated with non availability of medicines , getting admission, consultations with doctors etc. Grieving families are often asked in Government-run offices to pay bribes to obtain the Death Certificate, which is truly devastating for them as first of all they lost a loved one and secondly they have to pay bribe for what is their right.

Judicial corruption in India is attributable to factors such as "delays in the disposal of cases, shortage of judges and complex procedures. Even the Indian Army, who are our sole protectors have frequently witnessed corruption involving senior armed forces officers from the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.Indian Police remains amongst the most corrupt departments of government. Even basic functions like lodging a FIR or reporting a theft can not be done without paying bribe to police officials. At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time. To say it in a nutshell, Indians are driven by one strong force i.e. Greed. We can call it Indian or human nature that process of WANT is never-ending. And, as we all know when one gets authority and power than anyone can become uncontrollable. He wants to rule people according to his rules, making money from the elites and disturbing the poor and middle class.

Amidst all ongoing corruption, a man stood up and took initiative to combat corruption- Mr. Anna Hazare, well I am sure he also must have in life gone through a time when he has to surrender before corruption. But, I feel anyone can be Anna, we don't need a name, we just need some steps for Corrupt free India. Like- We have RIGHT TO VOTE, when elections come, don't go for politicians who will promise you 24 hrs water or electricity supply. But go for the one who can really make some change in your life. Yes, you can say that we can only vote when there are elections, before that what we can do? well, we have another power in our hands that is, RIGHT TO INFORMATION, which requires government officials to furnish information requested by citizens or face punitive action. And, along with it Government should also implement RIGHT TO REFUSE to citizens under which if any government official demands bribe for the work, we can straightaway refuse to it and get our work done without any hindrance. 

Corruption is a disease which can be significantly cured by Government but as a common man we can also exercise our rights. Its upon us to decide whether we want to continue living in Corruption bound country or we want a Corrupt free India- which is undoubtedly the need of the hour.