हे 2015,
तेरे कुछ दिन हँसा गए,
तो कुछ रूला गए,
कुछ मुस्कराहट में हुए नशीले,
तो कुछ आंसुओं में हुए गीले,
कुछ दिन मैं पर्वतों पे खेला,
तो कुछ ने रसातल में ढकेला,
कुछ ने गुलाबजल में भिगोया,
तो कुछ ने काँटों को चुभोया,
कुछ ने गैरों से मिलवाया,
तो कुछ ने अपनों को पराया बनाया,
यूं तेरे हर दिन की अपनी अलग कहानी है,
कही-अनकही, सुनी-अनसुनी, जानी-अनजानी है,
अाज तेरी हर कहानी इतिहास में दफन हो जानी है,
जाते-जाते हर साल की तरह,
तू भी दुनिया का दस्तूर सिखा जाएगा,
इस जमाने को आईना दिखा जाएगा,
कि कभी दिल खोल के जिसको प्यार देते हैं,
एक दिन उसे भी दफन कर देते हैं।
Thursday, December 31, 2015
कालचक्र
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Global Warming--is future of earth in safe hands?
In last few years the world has witnessed erratic weather patterns including extremes of draught and floods, hot waves and cold waves. Global warming is seen as the major culprits behind such unpredictable phenomena on "climate change". Experts have predicted that temperature of earth is going to rise by somewhere between 4-5 degree Celsius at the end of twenty first century due to green house gas effect. Many questions arise in the light of above facts. What is Global Warming? What is Climate change? What are its impacts and ways to prevent it? And the most importantly, why should we worry about all these at all when none of us would be alive at the end of this century? Let us try to answer above questions.
Continuous endeavor to make human life comfortable has been the story of human civilization, let it be discovery of fire, wheel; domestication of animals, settled agriculture etc. In the above series industrial revolution marks the transition into modern era of mechanization. Industrial revolution and subsequent developments caused exploitation of natural resources on large scale. major source of energy has been fossil fuel. Also forest lands have been cleared to accommodate the needs of increasing human population. In this race of development "nature" has somewhere been left behind. As Gandhij has said "the world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed ;" the nature started reacting to our actions through "climate change".
Climate change is result of increasing temperature of earth's atmosphere that is global warming. Green house effect of various gasses released mainly because of fossil fuel consumption is cause of rise in temperature. Also, clearing of forests have diminished the natural sequestrates of carbon di oxide, the major green house gas. Apart from climate change global warming has potential to cause melting of glaciers, rise in sea levels and subsequent flooding of coastal regions. These physical phenomena have grievous effects on human civilization.
The climate change has resulted in increased frequency of disasters in the forms of floods, cyclones, draughts, hail storms etc. Precious human lives are lost, costly infrastructure is damaged and large amount of finances are needed to restore the normalcy. Increasing spells of draughts have caused failure of crops especially in regions exclusively dependent upon rain water for agriculture. Further, with increase in temperature, many tropical crops are feared to fail as resultant temperature will be outside the physiologically acceptable limits for the concerned species. Thus climate change poses challenges towards food security.
Reasonably large populations are in coastal regions and small islands. Rising sea levels due melting of glaciers because of global warming threaten submergence of these regions. There is risk that these parts will be wiped out of map if global warming is allowed to progress at current rate. Along with affecting human civilizations, rising sea levels and temperature pose risk towards marine flora and fauna due to change in osmolality and temperature of water.
Apart from long term effects of global warming and climate change, irresponsible exploitation of nature poses many short term and imminent threats. Pollution, especially air pollution is one such threat. Worsening quality of air has caused increase in prevalence of breathing problems and increased the risk of lung cancer. Soil, noise and water pollution are also posing threat for human civilization and nature. Further since fossil fuels are limited, their exhaustion is another threat we have to tackle.
Global Warming should be seen as global warning and urgent steps should be taken to dampen the rate and reverse it in future. We can not despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings. Climate change may not affect badly during our life time but we need to protect the earth for our future generations, because they have equal rights over it as we do. We are the last generation with real opportunity to save the earth.
What are solutions to the problem of global warming? Solution lies in shifting away from conventional sources of energy, increasing forest cover, increasing energy efficiency etc. This is not the responsibility of an individual, a country only but of the whole world. Recognizing the responsibility, the all nations have agreed to take appropriate steps under aegis of United Nation Framework Convention on Climate change. Under UNFCCC negotiations Kyoto protocol was finalized and entered into force in 2005, and developed countries had pledged to bring down their emissions of green house gases by five percent of nineteen ninety levels by 2012. Many conferences have taken place but no desired, satisfactory roadmap has been agreed upon. Divide between developed and developing nations is the major roadblock towards such agreement.
Historically, developed nations have reaped the benefits of industrial revolution and thus share major responsibility of causing global warming. Developing nations want developed nations to bear the burden of mitigation of climate change while developed nations want equal sharing of burden of such actions. Mitigation efforts incur reasonable burden on economics as clean energy mechanisms require capital investment and research and development. Further alternative sources of energy like solar, nuclear, wind are costly to start with as compared to traditional fossil fuel. Developing countries lack enough resources to finance mitigation technologies. On these premises of historical responsibility and economic burden, developing nations want developed nations to adopt major role in reversing global warming.
Recently concluded agreement at Paris gives some hope as the world leaders have agreed to common responsibility of capping the rise in global temperature by less that two degree Celsius. Diplomatic efforts of developing nations and efforts of environmental activists have compelled developed countries to understand the adopt differential responsibilities. Under Paris agreement every country is supposed to finalize national emission targets and external monitoring mechanisms to verify national efforts. There is hope that national leaders will make reasoned decisions with respect to national targets.
Developed countries should help developing countries with technology and resources to shift away from conventional fossil fuels. Also efforts should be made to increase forest cover. Research and development should be promoted in increasing energy efficiency and international collaborative efforts should be made in this regard. Technologies should be developed to sequester carbon di oxide into rocks and utilize it for industrial purpose.
National and international leaders may debate and discuss and finalize broad roadmap for mitigation of global warming. However, individual is the ultimate unit of nation, human civilization. Every individual will have to understand the responsibility towards environment. Every individual has a role to play. We should use energy very judiciously as it will reduce strain to certain extent. Further we should contribute in increasing forest cover by planting trees as much as possible. We need to refrain from luxurious facilities like ACs, private cars as much as possible. "We belong to earth, and future of earth belongs to us". Our behavior today will determine survival of our future generations. If we understand our responsibility then definitely future of earth is in safe hands.
Continuous endeavor to make human life comfortable has been the story of human civilization, let it be discovery of fire, wheel; domestication of animals, settled agriculture etc. In the above series industrial revolution marks the transition into modern era of mechanization. Industrial revolution and subsequent developments caused exploitation of natural resources on large scale. major source of energy has been fossil fuel. Also forest lands have been cleared to accommodate the needs of increasing human population. In this race of development "nature" has somewhere been left behind. As Gandhij has said "the world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed ;" the nature started reacting to our actions through "climate change".
Climate change is result of increasing temperature of earth's atmosphere that is global warming. Green house effect of various gasses released mainly because of fossil fuel consumption is cause of rise in temperature. Also, clearing of forests have diminished the natural sequestrates of carbon di oxide, the major green house gas. Apart from climate change global warming has potential to cause melting of glaciers, rise in sea levels and subsequent flooding of coastal regions. These physical phenomena have grievous effects on human civilization.
The climate change has resulted in increased frequency of disasters in the forms of floods, cyclones, draughts, hail storms etc. Precious human lives are lost, costly infrastructure is damaged and large amount of finances are needed to restore the normalcy. Increasing spells of draughts have caused failure of crops especially in regions exclusively dependent upon rain water for agriculture. Further, with increase in temperature, many tropical crops are feared to fail as resultant temperature will be outside the physiologically acceptable limits for the concerned species. Thus climate change poses challenges towards food security.
Reasonably large populations are in coastal regions and small islands. Rising sea levels due melting of glaciers because of global warming threaten submergence of these regions. There is risk that these parts will be wiped out of map if global warming is allowed to progress at current rate. Along with affecting human civilizations, rising sea levels and temperature pose risk towards marine flora and fauna due to change in osmolality and temperature of water.
Apart from long term effects of global warming and climate change, irresponsible exploitation of nature poses many short term and imminent threats. Pollution, especially air pollution is one such threat. Worsening quality of air has caused increase in prevalence of breathing problems and increased the risk of lung cancer. Soil, noise and water pollution are also posing threat for human civilization and nature. Further since fossil fuels are limited, their exhaustion is another threat we have to tackle.
Global Warming should be seen as global warning and urgent steps should be taken to dampen the rate and reverse it in future. We can not despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings. Climate change may not affect badly during our life time but we need to protect the earth for our future generations, because they have equal rights over it as we do. We are the last generation with real opportunity to save the earth.
What are solutions to the problem of global warming? Solution lies in shifting away from conventional sources of energy, increasing forest cover, increasing energy efficiency etc. This is not the responsibility of an individual, a country only but of the whole world. Recognizing the responsibility, the all nations have agreed to take appropriate steps under aegis of United Nation Framework Convention on Climate change. Under UNFCCC negotiations Kyoto protocol was finalized and entered into force in 2005, and developed countries had pledged to bring down their emissions of green house gases by five percent of nineteen ninety levels by 2012. Many conferences have taken place but no desired, satisfactory roadmap has been agreed upon. Divide between developed and developing nations is the major roadblock towards such agreement.
Historically, developed nations have reaped the benefits of industrial revolution and thus share major responsibility of causing global warming. Developing nations want developed nations to bear the burden of mitigation of climate change while developed nations want equal sharing of burden of such actions. Mitigation efforts incur reasonable burden on economics as clean energy mechanisms require capital investment and research and development. Further alternative sources of energy like solar, nuclear, wind are costly to start with as compared to traditional fossil fuel. Developing countries lack enough resources to finance mitigation technologies. On these premises of historical responsibility and economic burden, developing nations want developed nations to adopt major role in reversing global warming.
Recently concluded agreement at Paris gives some hope as the world leaders have agreed to common responsibility of capping the rise in global temperature by less that two degree Celsius. Diplomatic efforts of developing nations and efforts of environmental activists have compelled developed countries to understand the adopt differential responsibilities. Under Paris agreement every country is supposed to finalize national emission targets and external monitoring mechanisms to verify national efforts. There is hope that national leaders will make reasoned decisions with respect to national targets.
Developed countries should help developing countries with technology and resources to shift away from conventional fossil fuels. Also efforts should be made to increase forest cover. Research and development should be promoted in increasing energy efficiency and international collaborative efforts should be made in this regard. Technologies should be developed to sequester carbon di oxide into rocks and utilize it for industrial purpose.
National and international leaders may debate and discuss and finalize broad roadmap for mitigation of global warming. However, individual is the ultimate unit of nation, human civilization. Every individual will have to understand the responsibility towards environment. Every individual has a role to play. We should use energy very judiciously as it will reduce strain to certain extent. Further we should contribute in increasing forest cover by planting trees as much as possible. We need to refrain from luxurious facilities like ACs, private cars as much as possible. "We belong to earth, and future of earth belongs to us". Our behavior today will determine survival of our future generations. If we understand our responsibility then definitely future of earth is in safe hands.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Sale
देश में लगी है सेल,
जहां सब सामान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहा है इंसान,
इंसान का इमान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहे है नेता,
नेताओं में बेईमान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहा है गरीब.
गरीबों का सम्मान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहा है प्यार,
प्यारा मेरा हिंदुस्तान बिक रहा है,
देश में लगी है सेल,
जहां सब सामान बिक रहा है l
जहां सब सामान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहा है इंसान,
इंसान का इमान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहे है नेता,
नेताओं में बेईमान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहा है गरीब.
गरीबों का सम्मान बिक रहा है,
बिक रहा है प्यार,
प्यारा मेरा हिंदुस्तान बिक रहा है,
देश में लगी है सेल,
जहां सब सामान बिक रहा है l
Monday, November 30, 2015
Just like that
Ansuo ka kya, kabhi bhi nikal jate hai,
Kabhi begano k apnepan se,
To kabhi apno k beganepan se.
Kabhi begano k apnepan se,
To kabhi apno k beganepan se.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Bahut hai aasan zindagee k sare kirdar nibhana,
Bas asaliyat me jeena padta hai,
Kabhi hansna to kabhi rona padta hai,
Kabhi paraye hote apne to kabhi apno ko khona padta hai,
Kabhi sapno me jagna to kabhi jagte jagte sona padta hai!
------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaj fir mil gayee wo beech bazar me,
Shayad khadee thi kisi k intezar me,
Puchh baitha us se fir ek baar main,
Kya aaj bhi pagal hai tu mere pyaar me,
Akulayee see khadi rhi wo jaise fansee ho majhdhar me,
Fir boli wo, kyu milte hai zakhm humesha sachche pyaar me,
Kya nahi hai aur koi gum is sansar me,
Na Jane kyu ruk jaati hoo isi mod pe har baar main,
Shayad yehi hai kismat meri k khush rahu tere intezar me!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
जब भी वो मेरे साथ होती है ,
खुशनुमा दिन ,
और हसीन रात होती है,
शीतल उसका स्पर्श ,
और शहद सी हर बात होती है ,
अमावस सी बिछडन,
और पूनम सी मुलाकात होती है,
जब भी वो मेरे साथ होती है ,
खुशनुमा दिन ,
और हसीन रात होती है l
Sunday, November 29, 2015
वहम
वहम था अहम का,
एक चिंगारी ने सब जला डाला ।
वहम था सालों साल जीने का,
एक virus ने मार डाला ।
वहम था महलों पर महल बनाने का,
ज्ञण भर की धरती की कंपकंपी ने सब गिरा डाला ।
वहम था जवानी के जोश का,
बुढ़ापे ने रूला डाला ।
वहम था रिश्तों का,
गरीबी ने सब समझा डाला ।
वहम था कुर्सी का,
एक vote ने सत्तापलट कर डाला ।
वहम था रफ्तार का,
वक्त ने सब पलट डाला ।
वहम था जग जीतने का,
बच्चों ने हरा डाला।
वहम था अहम का,
एक चिंगारी ने सब जला डाला ।
Saturday, November 28, 2015
The Right is right- India is Tolerant
The 2014 general election is one of the milestones in Indian political history. It will have long lasting effects on Indian political discourse. For the first time in independent India a "right wing" party came to the power with absolute majority. India lacks ideology based political discourse. It points towards under-development of political philosophy. Today's politics is by and large legacy of freedom struggle which was dominated by Congress. After independence Congress projected itself as "centrist" atleast in terms of economic policy by adopting mixed economy. Post liberalization economic policy of the nation and that of Congress tilted towards capitalism. Further with rise of BJP the party with "right wing" ideology at national level, Congress transformed into anti-right wing party. It became the party with economic policies away from left and political ideology towards left. It supported united front government in 1996-97 also formed the government with support of left parties with common minimum programme in 2004. 2004 marriage of congress and left parties marked the convergence of centre and left . Due to Congress-Left dominance, elites with similar ideologies occupied significant space in intelligentsia. Perception had been created that right wing ideology is communal, retrograde, divisive etc. This caused right-wing inclined people refraining from publicly acknowledging themselves. Further damage was done by extreme right wing organisations committing sporadic incidences of violence. Though extreme leftist violence like naxalism failed to malign left, sporadic violence by extreme right maligned image of right wing considerably. Media had significant role in this discourse.
With Narendra Modi rising to national level Right wing got new direction. Mr Modi as someone who publicly acknowledged his ideology, almost whole of right wing rallied behind him. Further his development oriented and proven results in Gujarat made added to his followings. Though main stream media still adverse towards BJP and Modi, social media played significant role in propagating Modiji's image. His image of right wing progressive development oriented leader increased BJP seats from speculated range of 170-180 to 282. But public acknowledgement of of being Right still less prevalent. Perception of right wing needs to be improved. Many nations have right wing governments and they are working reasonably good. There is no significant difference between economic policies of NDA and UPA. Both are for open economy with tinge of social welfare. Only difference is that NDA is yet to fall into traps of populism. Populism is mixture of appeasement and poor economics. Indiscriminate subsidies, loan waiver, reservations, freebies etc are contribute to populism. However bad for health of economics, it has been the most successful in terms of electoral gains. Most of regional parties in India are surviving on the oxygen of populism. Delhi and Bihar assembly elections prove that reforms are not welcome but populism is.
With regime change, elites were also to change. Efforts have been made to prove current government as extreme Right. Erstwhile elites and irresponsible behaviour of main stream media has been main culprits. First it was propaganda of "Attacks" on churches with a message that current government was attacking minorities. It was not mere co-incidence that such incidences were at peak at around assembly elections. Detailed investigations revealed that such incidences were in nature of theft, some as trivial as cricket ball going inside churches and there was no significant rise in such incidences when compared year on year basis. Whatever be the truth, damage had been done. Further Ghar Wapsi and love Jehad blown out of proportion with single agenda to deride the Right. Conversions are going on daily in our nation, then it was not understandable why Ghar Wapsi was made such a big issue.
Second half of 2015 was very important for BJP. First Bihar assembly elections were due, which were significant for BJP to increase its tally in RS. Secondly positive environment for doing business was to be consolidated. Further for permanent seat in UNSC India has to convince the world that it was complying with modern ideas of secularism, liberty etc. Politics is much of perception game let it be domestic or international. "Church attack" like propaganda was more than expected in such scenario. Every person has certain political ideology and as said before many on intelligentsia of left-congress era belonged to anti-Right group. Award Wapasi was started by the writer who has close family links with royal family of congress. This fact strengthens the suspicion that this propaganda was politically motivated. Also few of "intelligentsia" of award wapsi gang had campaigned against Mr Modi during elections. It leaves no doubt over political motivation of the whole exercise.
Three incidences cited by "intelligentsia" to support claims of intolerance are Kalburgi murder, Dadri incidence and Hariyana Dalit children's burning. First two happened in non-BJP ruled states and law and order is State subject under our constitution. Therefore major chunk of accountability lies with state governments. Further in Hariyana case, forensic investigations have revealed that fire was from within the house. Also prompt action has been taken in all the three cases. Data suggests that there has been no significant increase in violent crimes/communal crimes after NDA coming to power. Also none of the "intelligentsia" of "rising intolerance" gang have been harmed. Further they cite Beef Ban forgetting that beef ban is nothing new, Constitution has called foe taking steps to ban salughter of cows and milch animals and the same has been done in many states. Therefore all claims of rising intolerance seem to be hollow without substance. This gang has gone to extent with equating RSS with IS and India with Hindu Taliban. If differential behaviour of these people in aftermath of 1984 genocide, 1989 bhagalpur massacre, multiple terrorist attacks, innumerable Fatwas issued, etc are compared with their stand today, hypocrisy will be ashamed of.
Further after failing to substantiate claims of rising intolerance these people cite freedom speech and personal opinion, conveniently forgetting that defamation is one of the grounds of reasonable restriction on such freedom. By calling the nation "intolerant" you are defaming the government of the day, insulting Indians who are living peacefully. Now award wapsi has ceased, claims of intolerance are on decline for two reasons- first BJP has lost Bihar (Objective achieved) and Paris attacks (Now people know what intolerance is).
The moral of story is that nurturing of "intelligentsia" to make them politically biased is the worst thing a government can do. Political parties will come and go, but government and governance is continuous process. Media as fourth pillar of democracy should be responsible in reporting. Finally truth will prevail- India has been the most tolerant place ever in the history. There is no place where such diversity exists is evidence of our tolerance.
With Narendra Modi rising to national level Right wing got new direction. Mr Modi as someone who publicly acknowledged his ideology, almost whole of right wing rallied behind him. Further his development oriented and proven results in Gujarat made added to his followings. Though main stream media still adverse towards BJP and Modi, social media played significant role in propagating Modiji's image. His image of right wing progressive development oriented leader increased BJP seats from speculated range of 170-180 to 282. But public acknowledgement of of being Right still less prevalent. Perception of right wing needs to be improved. Many nations have right wing governments and they are working reasonably good. There is no significant difference between economic policies of NDA and UPA. Both are for open economy with tinge of social welfare. Only difference is that NDA is yet to fall into traps of populism. Populism is mixture of appeasement and poor economics. Indiscriminate subsidies, loan waiver, reservations, freebies etc are contribute to populism. However bad for health of economics, it has been the most successful in terms of electoral gains. Most of regional parties in India are surviving on the oxygen of populism. Delhi and Bihar assembly elections prove that reforms are not welcome but populism is.
With regime change, elites were also to change. Efforts have been made to prove current government as extreme Right. Erstwhile elites and irresponsible behaviour of main stream media has been main culprits. First it was propaganda of "Attacks" on churches with a message that current government was attacking minorities. It was not mere co-incidence that such incidences were at peak at around assembly elections. Detailed investigations revealed that such incidences were in nature of theft, some as trivial as cricket ball going inside churches and there was no significant rise in such incidences when compared year on year basis. Whatever be the truth, damage had been done. Further Ghar Wapsi and love Jehad blown out of proportion with single agenda to deride the Right. Conversions are going on daily in our nation, then it was not understandable why Ghar Wapsi was made such a big issue.
Second half of 2015 was very important for BJP. First Bihar assembly elections were due, which were significant for BJP to increase its tally in RS. Secondly positive environment for doing business was to be consolidated. Further for permanent seat in UNSC India has to convince the world that it was complying with modern ideas of secularism, liberty etc. Politics is much of perception game let it be domestic or international. "Church attack" like propaganda was more than expected in such scenario. Every person has certain political ideology and as said before many on intelligentsia of left-congress era belonged to anti-Right group. Award Wapasi was started by the writer who has close family links with royal family of congress. This fact strengthens the suspicion that this propaganda was politically motivated. Also few of "intelligentsia" of award wapsi gang had campaigned against Mr Modi during elections. It leaves no doubt over political motivation of the whole exercise.
Three incidences cited by "intelligentsia" to support claims of intolerance are Kalburgi murder, Dadri incidence and Hariyana Dalit children's burning. First two happened in non-BJP ruled states and law and order is State subject under our constitution. Therefore major chunk of accountability lies with state governments. Further in Hariyana case, forensic investigations have revealed that fire was from within the house. Also prompt action has been taken in all the three cases. Data suggests that there has been no significant increase in violent crimes/communal crimes after NDA coming to power. Also none of the "intelligentsia" of "rising intolerance" gang have been harmed. Further they cite Beef Ban forgetting that beef ban is nothing new, Constitution has called foe taking steps to ban salughter of cows and milch animals and the same has been done in many states. Therefore all claims of rising intolerance seem to be hollow without substance. This gang has gone to extent with equating RSS with IS and India with Hindu Taliban. If differential behaviour of these people in aftermath of 1984 genocide, 1989 bhagalpur massacre, multiple terrorist attacks, innumerable Fatwas issued, etc are compared with their stand today, hypocrisy will be ashamed of.
Further after failing to substantiate claims of rising intolerance these people cite freedom speech and personal opinion, conveniently forgetting that defamation is one of the grounds of reasonable restriction on such freedom. By calling the nation "intolerant" you are defaming the government of the day, insulting Indians who are living peacefully. Now award wapsi has ceased, claims of intolerance are on decline for two reasons- first BJP has lost Bihar (Objective achieved) and Paris attacks (Now people know what intolerance is).
The moral of story is that nurturing of "intelligentsia" to make them politically biased is the worst thing a government can do. Political parties will come and go, but government and governance is continuous process. Media as fourth pillar of democracy should be responsible in reporting. Finally truth will prevail- India has been the most tolerant place ever in the history. There is no place where such diversity exists is evidence of our tolerance.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
कीमत
गर मिल जाए मंजिल सबको ,
तो मंजिल की क्या कीमत,
गर लहरों से ही मिल जाए साहिल,
तो तैराक की क्या कीमत,
गर मिल जाए मोहब्बत सबको,
तो तड़प की क्या कीमत,
गर अक्ल आ गई सबमें,
तो हमारी क्या कीमत।
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Terrorism may be secular but Terrorists are communal
Yet another brutal attack in Paris took place yesterday. Places of attack were so designed to give impression as an attack on western world. One such place was football stadium where match was being played between France and Germany, while another where American band was performing. It has been termed as attack on human civilization.
Mass killings have been rampant throughout the history. However in contemporary world, such barbaric killings are not that prevalent. Most of such killings are due clash of two cultures. These are to decide supremacy of one culture over another. In modern world concepts of secularism and tolerance have contributed in tackling these cultural wars.
After any such incident we are reminded by "intellectuals" and "media" that "terrorism has no religion". This statement seems to be correct in order to avoid discrimination of any single community especially in diverse societies like India. Media and intellectual bias is evident in such commentary. Sporadic incidents with alleged involvement of Hindus had caused then Home Minister of India to coin the phrase "saffron terrorism". Further few incidents in recent past had caused large propaganda of "intolerance" in our country with few returning awards to protest "rising intolerance". One columnist has gone to extent of calling India as Hindu Taliban while another historian comparing RSS with ISIS. These are two extreme stands taken by intelligentsia. It is unfortunate to have such biased opinions in main stream media. It leaves root question, the question of cultural fanaticism unanswered.
Coming to the phrase "terrorism has no religion". While it can be granted that terrorism has no religion but can we also say that terrorists have no religion. If they have no religion then why this violence? what it is for? for money? power? No, these violent incidences are for establishment of supremacy of certain ideology and perpetrators of such crimes are fanatic followers of such ideology.
Coming to philosophical discourse regarding religion, what exactly is religion. The word religion is derived from Latin word "religare"which means to bind. Hence religion is defined as a faith or belief that is followed by a set of people. When we use word religion then our concept is limited to known religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc. But religion is beyond these existing religions. Even scienticism, secularism, humanism, environmentalism etc can be called religion based upon above definition. Thus saying terrorists have no religion is flawed concept.
Another distorted concept prevalent in India is that of secularism. In our country it is interpreted from religious tolerance to freedom of faith to minority appeasement. Actual secularism implies indifference towards religion in public discourse. This meaning of secularism has been left way behind in the history of modern India.
Now if any act is done to establish supremacy of certain culture or faith then can it be called secular? Is it possible to commit such act without having staunch belief in ideology? Answer is bog NO. Next step is whether interpretation of religious texts by such extremist groups is correct or not. Common sense says that no religion can preach killing of innocent people. Merely non believing in particular faith doesn't make a person guilty at all. Having said it, non believers have no right to mock the faith of a particular community. Such acts of mocking acts as provocation.
It is only when believers and non believers respect each others faith then only violent crimes happening in the name of religion can be stopped. But repeating a line that terrorists have no religion is like turning blind eye to root cause of such extremism.
Mass killings have been rampant throughout the history. However in contemporary world, such barbaric killings are not that prevalent. Most of such killings are due clash of two cultures. These are to decide supremacy of one culture over another. In modern world concepts of secularism and tolerance have contributed in tackling these cultural wars.
After any such incident we are reminded by "intellectuals" and "media" that "terrorism has no religion". This statement seems to be correct in order to avoid discrimination of any single community especially in diverse societies like India. Media and intellectual bias is evident in such commentary. Sporadic incidents with alleged involvement of Hindus had caused then Home Minister of India to coin the phrase "saffron terrorism". Further few incidents in recent past had caused large propaganda of "intolerance" in our country with few returning awards to protest "rising intolerance". One columnist has gone to extent of calling India as Hindu Taliban while another historian comparing RSS with ISIS. These are two extreme stands taken by intelligentsia. It is unfortunate to have such biased opinions in main stream media. It leaves root question, the question of cultural fanaticism unanswered.
Coming to the phrase "terrorism has no religion". While it can be granted that terrorism has no religion but can we also say that terrorists have no religion. If they have no religion then why this violence? what it is for? for money? power? No, these violent incidences are for establishment of supremacy of certain ideology and perpetrators of such crimes are fanatic followers of such ideology.
Coming to philosophical discourse regarding religion, what exactly is religion. The word religion is derived from Latin word "religare"which means to bind. Hence religion is defined as a faith or belief that is followed by a set of people. When we use word religion then our concept is limited to known religions like Hinduism, Islam, Christianity etc. But religion is beyond these existing religions. Even scienticism, secularism, humanism, environmentalism etc can be called religion based upon above definition. Thus saying terrorists have no religion is flawed concept.
Another distorted concept prevalent in India is that of secularism. In our country it is interpreted from religious tolerance to freedom of faith to minority appeasement. Actual secularism implies indifference towards religion in public discourse. This meaning of secularism has been left way behind in the history of modern India.
Now if any act is done to establish supremacy of certain culture or faith then can it be called secular? Is it possible to commit such act without having staunch belief in ideology? Answer is bog NO. Next step is whether interpretation of religious texts by such extremist groups is correct or not. Common sense says that no religion can preach killing of innocent people. Merely non believing in particular faith doesn't make a person guilty at all. Having said it, non believers have no right to mock the faith of a particular community. Such acts of mocking acts as provocation.
It is only when believers and non believers respect each others faith then only violent crimes happening in the name of religion can be stopped. But repeating a line that terrorists have no religion is like turning blind eye to root cause of such extremism.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
State Anthem
हम उस राज्य के वासी हैं,
जहाँ लालू की सत्ता है,
जिंदगी महंगी
और मरना सस्ता है,
भ्रष्ट हैं मंत्री से संत्री,
सरकारी तंत्र खस्ता है,
फटेहाल हैं बसें,
गड्ढों में रस्ता है,
स्कूल में मास्टर नहीं,
अस्पताल में डाक्टर नही,
जमाना हम पे हंसता है,
न नौकरी न चाकरी है,
युवा हमारा परदेश बसता है,
न बिजली है न पानी है,
जीते जी नरक पहुंच गये,
ऐसा हमको लगता है,
हम उस राज्य के वासी हैं,
जहाँ लालू की सत्ता है।
Sunday, November 8, 2015
New Era in Indian Politics
Indian Politics has traveled a long way from monopoly of Congress to coalition era. Initially coalition era was most difficult phase with hung assemblies, parliament multiple governments in short span of time, and mid term elections. In last one decade barring some exceptions there has been decisive mandates in favor of one party of pre-poll alliances. It is sign of maturing coalition politics. It has given stable governments.
2014 general election has been another milestone in Indian politics. It made difference on two counts. First it was quasi-presidential in nature. People gave decisive mandate for Mr. Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of BJP. Secondly it marked transition from coalition politics to "anti-establishmentism", with later being more important and long lasting impact. Bihar assembly election 2015 marking the first major victory of anti-establishmentism.
India has parliamentary system with first pass the pole method. Although BJP got around 33% of popular votes, it secured more than 50% of seats in Loksabha. In Loksabha 2014, opposition was largely fragmented. Vote share of unified opposition was much more than vote share of BJP. This prompted opposition parties to come together and fight BJP and Modi charisma. India has lack of ideology based party system. Therefore coming together of these parties is not difficult. Only obstacle has been personal rivalry. Since there are no permanent friends and foes in politics, this issue has been relatively easier to address. Unified opposition was first tried in assembly by-elections explicitly in Bihar, implicitly in UP. Further Delhi election where it was implicit understanding between cadres of Congress and AAP that gave excellent results. Bihar election was first major test of unified opposition. Final tally of assembly election results were in tune with seat projections based upon vote shares of grand alliance in general election 2014.
However such unified opposition has inherent weaknesses and contradictions. It is prompted by opportunism rather than ideology. Its disintegration is inevitable. After success in Bihar there would be more consolidated experiment in UP. Electoral politics has become simple arithmetic.
Strategies employed by unified opposition is anti-establishmentism, that is to oppose party in power and blame it for every wrong. In Delhi and in Bihar all problems of the country were attributed to newly elected government at centre. Modi government has been on right track to focus on institutional. infrastructural reforms. Such measures take time to yield results. In Delhi and Bihar actual anti-incumbency was directed towards BJP.
Bihar elections also signifies caste based voting pattern. It is unfortunate that caste based political discourse is still rampant. Vote share of two alliances are in consonance with caste based vote bank of respective parties.
Bihar election, though regional in nature has national percussion. Unfortunately these results will dampen the long term economic reforms being undertaken. Firstly it will decrease the stature of PM Modi in parliament and within his own party. BJP's strength in RS will be further reduced. Reforms with legislative requirements will be difficult to go through. Further Mr Modi may shift focus from reforms to short term populist measures. populist measures, though bad economics yield good electoral results. Further investor confidence will suffer setback in light of dampening reforms.
It will require statesmanship from Mr Modi to continue with long term reforms irrespective of regional losses. In my opinion he is staunch patriot and he will continue with reforms with more focus on long term gains rather than short sighted populism. He has to sacrifice states to earn Statesmanship.
2014 general election has been another milestone in Indian politics. It made difference on two counts. First it was quasi-presidential in nature. People gave decisive mandate for Mr. Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of BJP. Secondly it marked transition from coalition politics to "anti-establishmentism", with later being more important and long lasting impact. Bihar assembly election 2015 marking the first major victory of anti-establishmentism.
India has parliamentary system with first pass the pole method. Although BJP got around 33% of popular votes, it secured more than 50% of seats in Loksabha. In Loksabha 2014, opposition was largely fragmented. Vote share of unified opposition was much more than vote share of BJP. This prompted opposition parties to come together and fight BJP and Modi charisma. India has lack of ideology based party system. Therefore coming together of these parties is not difficult. Only obstacle has been personal rivalry. Since there are no permanent friends and foes in politics, this issue has been relatively easier to address. Unified opposition was first tried in assembly by-elections explicitly in Bihar, implicitly in UP. Further Delhi election where it was implicit understanding between cadres of Congress and AAP that gave excellent results. Bihar election was first major test of unified opposition. Final tally of assembly election results were in tune with seat projections based upon vote shares of grand alliance in general election 2014.
However such unified opposition has inherent weaknesses and contradictions. It is prompted by opportunism rather than ideology. Its disintegration is inevitable. After success in Bihar there would be more consolidated experiment in UP. Electoral politics has become simple arithmetic.
Strategies employed by unified opposition is anti-establishmentism, that is to oppose party in power and blame it for every wrong. In Delhi and in Bihar all problems of the country were attributed to newly elected government at centre. Modi government has been on right track to focus on institutional. infrastructural reforms. Such measures take time to yield results. In Delhi and Bihar actual anti-incumbency was directed towards BJP.
Bihar elections also signifies caste based voting pattern. It is unfortunate that caste based political discourse is still rampant. Vote share of two alliances are in consonance with caste based vote bank of respective parties.
Bihar election, though regional in nature has national percussion. Unfortunately these results will dampen the long term economic reforms being undertaken. Firstly it will decrease the stature of PM Modi in parliament and within his own party. BJP's strength in RS will be further reduced. Reforms with legislative requirements will be difficult to go through. Further Mr Modi may shift focus from reforms to short term populist measures. populist measures, though bad economics yield good electoral results. Further investor confidence will suffer setback in light of dampening reforms.
It will require statesmanship from Mr Modi to continue with long term reforms irrespective of regional losses. In my opinion he is staunch patriot and he will continue with reforms with more focus on long term gains rather than short sighted populism. He has to sacrifice states to earn Statesmanship.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Reservation, Social structure and Merit
India has been diverse and complex society. Complexity and diversity in Indian society is explained by sociological development, invasion by foreign powers and cultural hybridization through thousands of years. As a result India has become home to various religions, sects and castes.
Caste system is not new concept to Indian society. Traditionally Indian society has been divided into four classes through system of Varnashram. Basic concept behind Varnashram was specialization in the fields of education, administration, business and labour. If under this system, status of individual were to be decided based upon qualities rather than birth, then it would not have been distorted. However, with advent of time Varnashram system became hereditary and caste discrimination ensued. Caste divides became so wide that upper caste people used to avoid contact with lower caste people forget about inter-dining, inter-marriage etc. Caste discrimination reached to the lowest in the form of untouchability.
Two champions of social equality of modern India Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar had contrasting views regarding caste system. While Gandhiji was in favour of varnshram, Ambedkarr was for abolition of caste system radically. Gandhiji did not find fault with caste system but he faulted untouchability. Gandhiji wanted to bring parity among all castes by providing equality of status and was against hereditary nature. Ambedkar found caste system to be root cause of discrimination. This conception of Ambedkar compelled him to denounce Hinduism and accept Buddhism.
Our Constitution makers tried to abolish caste discrimination by providing fundamental rights under Part-III of constitution under articles 14, 15, 16 and 17. Further they thought these fundamental rights to be insufficient to bring parity, they introduced affirmative action in the form of reservation to uplift the backward classes. They provided time frame of ten years for upliftment of socially backward classes.
Argument behind reservation has been that socially backward classes have limited access to education and resources. Thus people with similar capabilities perform differentially due to differing facilities. It has been well accepted argument. With passage of time reservation has been extended to Other Backward Classes.
Reservation became strong electoral issue with no political parties daring to opine against reservation explicitly. With RSS chief opining about revisiting current reservation model, new debate regarding reservation is expected to take place.
Lets examine current reservation policy. Two major questions should be asked. First, whether reservation in current for has provided desired results? If not then why? Secondly, Is current reservation model just?
Lets us examine current reservation model in the context of first question. Answer is partially yes. Reservation has uplifted certain communities if compared to their social status at the time of independence. However upliftment of few communities was not objective of reservation policy. It was abolition of social discrimination. Social discrimination is still rampant in our society. Nowadays this discrimination is not only based upon caste but on socio-economic status also. Many people belonging to backward classes still living under ignorance. They are cut off from main stream. Development has not touched them. Further once a beneficiary of reservation the individual progresses and subsequently his children are equally privileged as compared to upper class people. Now the people who did not get benefit of reservation at the previously are not as privileged as beneficiary off reservation. This causes distorted competition among reserved category people. Thus people who have not got reservation previously are unfairly left out of reservation and thus reservation in current form has failed to bring social parity. This has created gulf even between people of same class. Further with involvement of electoral politics, caste system has consolidated. In many states caste based political parties have flourished and still voting pattern has unfortunately been on caste lines.
Coming to second question whether reservation has been just in current form. Answer is big no. Privileges a student get in to form of schooling, access to books, coaching etc. depend upon economic status rather than caste. A son/daughter of a well earning person has access to modern schooling, updated books, and coachings etc. However children of not so well economically are not so privileged. If former belongs to reserved category and later to unreserved category then merit system is distorted. Under current reservation model if former performs poorly then also he will succeed in the competition rather than later. Here basic argument of reservation falls flat. Merit system has been distorted by current form of reservation. Here justice suffers. A child of farmer belonging to upper class has equal right over resources of nation as child of a professional belonging to reserved category. This distortion has caused many upper class people to demand reservation. Latest example being that of Patels in Gujrat.
What should be the way forward? Reservation can not be indefinite affair. Injustice it is causing will over the time cause social unrest. It has be revised. Constitution provides for affirmative action for socio--economic backwardness. Answer is in the constitution itself. It is time that we should reconsider whether caste is only criteria for assessment of socio-economic backwardness. Socio-economic assessment involves education, profession, income, place of living etc. Socio-economic census should be done to ear mark beneficiaries of reservation. And such list to be revised periodically, say every 10 years.
Further reservation should be made one time benefit. If father or mother has been beneficiary of reservation for higher education and employment then children should be kept out of reservation. This is only way we can get rid of reservation.
Also primary education should be made robust enough that reservation becomes unnecessary stuff. Very recently the custodian of constitution, SC has directed government to abolish reservation in higher education. Unfortunately because of caste consolidation and caste based voting has caused lack of political will for even debate reservation policy. The day is not far when social revolt will be against current unjust model of reservation. Protests by jats, gujjars and patels are just starting tip of iceberg of unrest.
Caste system is not new concept to Indian society. Traditionally Indian society has been divided into four classes through system of Varnashram. Basic concept behind Varnashram was specialization in the fields of education, administration, business and labour. If under this system, status of individual were to be decided based upon qualities rather than birth, then it would not have been distorted. However, with advent of time Varnashram system became hereditary and caste discrimination ensued. Caste divides became so wide that upper caste people used to avoid contact with lower caste people forget about inter-dining, inter-marriage etc. Caste discrimination reached to the lowest in the form of untouchability.
Two champions of social equality of modern India Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar had contrasting views regarding caste system. While Gandhiji was in favour of varnshram, Ambedkarr was for abolition of caste system radically. Gandhiji did not find fault with caste system but he faulted untouchability. Gandhiji wanted to bring parity among all castes by providing equality of status and was against hereditary nature. Ambedkar found caste system to be root cause of discrimination. This conception of Ambedkar compelled him to denounce Hinduism and accept Buddhism.
Our Constitution makers tried to abolish caste discrimination by providing fundamental rights under Part-III of constitution under articles 14, 15, 16 and 17. Further they thought these fundamental rights to be insufficient to bring parity, they introduced affirmative action in the form of reservation to uplift the backward classes. They provided time frame of ten years for upliftment of socially backward classes.
Argument behind reservation has been that socially backward classes have limited access to education and resources. Thus people with similar capabilities perform differentially due to differing facilities. It has been well accepted argument. With passage of time reservation has been extended to Other Backward Classes.
Reservation became strong electoral issue with no political parties daring to opine against reservation explicitly. With RSS chief opining about revisiting current reservation model, new debate regarding reservation is expected to take place.
Lets examine current reservation policy. Two major questions should be asked. First, whether reservation in current for has provided desired results? If not then why? Secondly, Is current reservation model just?
Lets us examine current reservation model in the context of first question. Answer is partially yes. Reservation has uplifted certain communities if compared to their social status at the time of independence. However upliftment of few communities was not objective of reservation policy. It was abolition of social discrimination. Social discrimination is still rampant in our society. Nowadays this discrimination is not only based upon caste but on socio-economic status also. Many people belonging to backward classes still living under ignorance. They are cut off from main stream. Development has not touched them. Further once a beneficiary of reservation the individual progresses and subsequently his children are equally privileged as compared to upper class people. Now the people who did not get benefit of reservation at the previously are not as privileged as beneficiary off reservation. This causes distorted competition among reserved category people. Thus people who have not got reservation previously are unfairly left out of reservation and thus reservation in current form has failed to bring social parity. This has created gulf even between people of same class. Further with involvement of electoral politics, caste system has consolidated. In many states caste based political parties have flourished and still voting pattern has unfortunately been on caste lines.
Coming to second question whether reservation has been just in current form. Answer is big no. Privileges a student get in to form of schooling, access to books, coaching etc. depend upon economic status rather than caste. A son/daughter of a well earning person has access to modern schooling, updated books, and coachings etc. However children of not so well economically are not so privileged. If former belongs to reserved category and later to unreserved category then merit system is distorted. Under current reservation model if former performs poorly then also he will succeed in the competition rather than later. Here basic argument of reservation falls flat. Merit system has been distorted by current form of reservation. Here justice suffers. A child of farmer belonging to upper class has equal right over resources of nation as child of a professional belonging to reserved category. This distortion has caused many upper class people to demand reservation. Latest example being that of Patels in Gujrat.
What should be the way forward? Reservation can not be indefinite affair. Injustice it is causing will over the time cause social unrest. It has be revised. Constitution provides for affirmative action for socio--economic backwardness. Answer is in the constitution itself. It is time that we should reconsider whether caste is only criteria for assessment of socio-economic backwardness. Socio-economic assessment involves education, profession, income, place of living etc. Socio-economic census should be done to ear mark beneficiaries of reservation. And such list to be revised periodically, say every 10 years.
Further reservation should be made one time benefit. If father or mother has been beneficiary of reservation for higher education and employment then children should be kept out of reservation. This is only way we can get rid of reservation.
Also primary education should be made robust enough that reservation becomes unnecessary stuff. Very recently the custodian of constitution, SC has directed government to abolish reservation in higher education. Unfortunately because of caste consolidation and caste based voting has caused lack of political will for even debate reservation policy. The day is not far when social revolt will be against current unjust model of reservation. Protests by jats, gujjars and patels are just starting tip of iceberg of unrest.
Monday, November 2, 2015
उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि मटन में taste नहीं है,
बकरे बिचारे की जान चली गयी, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि निकम्मा है साला।
बिचारा दिन-रात काम करता रहा, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि प्यार नहीं करती मुझसे वो,
आँख लग गयी बिचारी की तेरे इंतज़ार में, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि अन्यायी है उपरवाला,
तुम्हे औकात से ज्यादा दे दिया उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि जान ले ली डॉक्टर ने,
कितनो की बचाई होगी उसने, उस का क्या?
तुमने कहा कि लूटता है डॉक्टर साला,
जवानी खर्च दी उसने पढ़ाई में, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि गाय काट क खानी है हमे,
गाय को देवी मानते हम, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा की बहुत अकड़ है साले में,
कितने पापड़ बेले हैं उसने, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा की बोलने की आज़ादी नहीं है देश में,
दिन-रात गाली मिल रही है प्रधानमंत्री को, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि तानाशाह है वो,
लोकतान्त्रिक चुनाव जीत के आया है, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि अनुभव नहीं शासन का उसे,
चालीस साल से राजननीति में गुज़ारे है उसने, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि और आरक्षण चाहिए,
५०% वाला कलेक्टर और ८०% वाला चपरासी ही, उसका क्या?
बकरे बिचारे की जान चली गयी, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि निकम्मा है साला।
बिचारा दिन-रात काम करता रहा, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि प्यार नहीं करती मुझसे वो,
आँख लग गयी बिचारी की तेरे इंतज़ार में, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि अन्यायी है उपरवाला,
तुम्हे औकात से ज्यादा दे दिया उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि जान ले ली डॉक्टर ने,
कितनो की बचाई होगी उसने, उस का क्या?
तुमने कहा कि लूटता है डॉक्टर साला,
जवानी खर्च दी उसने पढ़ाई में, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि गाय काट क खानी है हमे,
गाय को देवी मानते हम, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा की बहुत अकड़ है साले में,
कितने पापड़ बेले हैं उसने, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा की बोलने की आज़ादी नहीं है देश में,
दिन-रात गाली मिल रही है प्रधानमंत्री को, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि तानाशाह है वो,
लोकतान्त्रिक चुनाव जीत के आया है, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि अनुभव नहीं शासन का उसे,
चालीस साल से राजननीति में गुज़ारे है उसने, उसका क्या?
तुमने कहा कि और आरक्षण चाहिए,
५०% वाला कलेक्टर और ८०% वाला चपरासी ही, उसका क्या?
Monday, September 21, 2015
IAS: Steel Frame or Steel Cage
Indian Administrative services is the premier civil service of the Indian government with its members function at the highest levels of executive. IAS constitutes permanent executive body. It can be regarded as legacy of British government. It was known as Indian Civil service during British rule. It along with police and military formed an important pillar of British administration, entrusted with especially revenue collection. Government of Independent India recognized importance of ICS in the day to day governance and adopted it from British administration.
Realising the scope of Indian Administrative Services, first Home Minister of Independent India Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel labelled it as Steel Frame of Indian System. Detailed analysis of India and role of IAS officers will reveal that this labeling was not an exaggeration, neither it was just an adjective. The phrase "Steel Frame" was entrusting a responsibility to officers to IAS to lead the developmental path of Independent India. During last 65 years IAS officers have played excellent role in shaping India's fortunes. Role of IAS officers in day to day administrator is too exhaustive to be summed up in few words. I will try to touch upon certain aspects of IAS officers' role in following paragraphs.
IAS officers have to work at very diverse level during their tenure. This diversity ranges from remote area to capital cities in terms of geography; from district level to secretariat in terms of job profile, from department to agriculture to department of science annd technology in terms of departments. Also IAS officer is made part of various quasi-judicial bodies to function as jury.
During initial years of the service an officer is posted at district and sub-division level. At this level he is entrusted with responsibility of execution of various policies and plans of central and state governments.Thus he functions as chief executive of the district. He works as leader, chief regulator and motivator for various government employees to get work done, to ensure good governance. Though by and large his work is limited to execution, he has many delegated functions to perform. With his innovative ideas he tries his best to provide maximum output with limited resources.
When an officer lands in secretariat his job profile changes radically. In a parliamentary system, highest executive is drawn from legislature. Various ministers work in capacity of political executive. Here due their inexperience in the filed of administration they have to take help of permanent executive that is senior IAS officers. Therefore at this level IAS officers play key role in policy planning. In planning a policy they have to use all their experience earned at grass-root level. Further, although laws are passed by legislature, they originate in ministries. Therefore IAS officers play important role in drafting of laws. In his capacity as policy planner he has to be flexible to all suggestions, in order to make it comprehensive.
Further because of being generalist in nature, these officers are entrusted to work in various departments during their tenure. Though general in nature, working a particular department needs certain level of technical knowledge for the best results. Therefore an officer has to be in learning mode throughout his life.
After working under such diverse conditions an IAS officer earns vast on job training. His experience is used as mentor, guide after retirement either as advisor or member of some committee. Therefore we can conclude that an officer of IAS is essential to Indian administration. Because of its challenging nature it is regarded as the most prestigious service and attracts talented youths from throughout the country.
However, with advent of time IAS has been losing its charm. Increasing work-load, political interference and materialistic greed has made it to be perceived as reluctant, corrupt and disconnected from the people. When seen in terms of salary even senior officers of IAS are not paid the salary earned by junior level executives in corporate sector. To compete with contemporaries in corporate sector and fulfill materialistic desires one takes help of corruption. Thus becomes caged to his desires.
Further due to being subordinate to political executives permanent executives can not exercise his discretion independently. Further in absence of any mechanism to determine the best policy, an officer has to remain a mute spectator of poor populist policies, mal-governance and some times corruption. Acts of political executive is not always in the best interest of nation rather political and personal ambitions prevail in his decisions. Thus IAS officer becomes caged to ambitions of political executive.
IAS can be either steel cage or steel frame depending upon individual personality of the officer, political situations and strength of institutions. Individual personality is assessed at recruitment level but human personality is dynamic in nature guided by circumstances. Therefore no recruitment method can be perfect to assess all aspects of individual's personality. Assessing background of candidates, work experience etc may help to recruit better officers.
With increasing politicization of people, technological expansion, political accountability is being ensured. If improvements keep on happening at current pace there is hope that political executive will be reformed thus letting IAS officers work independently.
With vibrant and independent judiciary, institutional reforms are also taking place. Judiciary has intervened time and again to ensure independence of IAS and other civil services. Clear cut guidelines with respect to transfers, postings and promotions etc will help to free IAS from clutches of politicians.
Diverse and challenging nature of the job, enormous scope and substantial impact on day to day administration makes IAS steel frame of Indian system. Their supervision and regulation by political executives, personal desires make then caged. With political empowerment of people, activist judiciary and institutional reforms cage can be broken and IAS officers can again become steel frame.
Opening Up Political System
Constitution of India guarantees a democratic and republic government. Indian democracy has thrived successfully through last 67 years and consolidated itself. India has gone to become largest and possibly strongest democracy in the world. Child of a tea vendor becoming head of the government and a three year old political party getting unprecedented success in capital state are signs of maturity of our democracy. Such outcomes seem to decorate success stories of Indian constitution.
A deeper analysis on Indian political system disappoints champions of republicanism. Today political system has become apparently closed for ordinary aspirant. First generation politicians have become rarity in younger cohort of office bearers. Many political parties have become family centric. For example all members of Loksabha of Samajwadi Party come from the same family. New experiment of Janata Parivar is going to have more of “Parivar” than Janata. Similarly most of MPs of Congress are fourth generation, third generation and second generation politicians. Top positions of the most of regional parties are occupied by family members of top leader. BJP which has been strong opponent of dynasty politics is not immune to this phenomenon. It maintained its ideal position only in its younger days. With advent of time it also has given space to second and third generation politicians. Left parties are the only group that has remained aloof from this.
It should not be mistaken that sons and daughters of politicians are not good enough to represent, administer or rule. Coming from political background is not a disqualification. History is witness that monarchy has often given good rulers. Ashoka, Akbar, Tipu Sultan are few examples of great rulers coming through dynasty. Point of argument is that such nepotism has given rise to “new Indian feudalism”. Automatic succession of political space by natural heirs rules out entry of ordinary citizens into political system, which is against spirit of democracy and republicanism. Proponents of family centric politics argue that sons and daughters of politicians are not appointed as MPs or MLAs rather they are elected. It is up to voters whether to approve or not. They claim electoral victory as endorsement of such politics. Here they ignore the ease at which such sons and daughters get accommodation into politics and favour in ticket distribution. Voters have no choice but to vote as per party ideology and for stability of government. Further politics is non-remunerative career and uncertainty of getting due position and chances of losing to dynasties discourage youths from taking politics seriously. This constitutes bottleneck in entry of fresh talent into Indian Politics.
Most of the fresh talents coming to politics have either fame in the fields of cinema, sports etc. or money power. People from both the groups have little interest in political discourse. Politics for them is either hobby or another means to earn fame, power and money. Another field contributing human resource in politics is bureaucracy and foreign services. Though they have political aptitude, many retired bureaucrats joining political parties and getting disproportionate space, their credibility of non-partisanism during bureaucratic career remain suspicious. There have been many recommendations with respect to certain period of moratorium over retired or resigned bureaucrats accepting political posts.
Student politics is at lowest currently. Very few products of student politics are at the helm of active politics of GenNext. Very few universities have reasonably good student political discourse. College and University politics is also marred with money and muscle power with few serious takers.
If not checked in time dynasties will grow, and Indian system will become democratic feudal system. Political leadership is ultimate decider of governance. With growing feudalism fresh talents will be more and more alienated from politics. Indian politics will eventually become slave of few feudal families. Political parties need to be more transparent and internally democratic to allow the best talent to get the best position. Opening up of political system for ordinary youths will make democracy more participatory and stronger. The perception that only money power and political background can get reasonable returns in politics needs to be changed.
Due to low inflow of human resource into active politics there will be dearth of good political leadership in next 20-25 years. This will in turn lead to low voting percentage and lower participation of masses in to electoral practice. Government of the day will have legitimacy crisis. General elections 2014 and Delhi assembly election2014 and 2015 have proved that fresh political leadership can revive the confidence of voters into electoral process. More is the voting percentage; more is legitimacy of government of the day.
The work of legislature to frame laws, deliberate over important policy issues and matters of public importance. Political experience has shown progressively decreasing debates and discussions both quantitatively and qualitatively inside and outside legislature. Since there is integration of highest executive with legislature in parliamentary democracy majority of legislative work is done by executive with legislature having ratifying roles. Anti-defection law has to some extent deterred members of legislatures to put forward their own opinions and contributions if contrary to party line. Also shortage of analytical minds is also contributory towards decreased debates and deliberations which in turn are caused by closed political system.
In any democracy an individual cannot be disqualified from political process based on family or professional background. But certain steps can be taken to ensure level playing field for every interested entrant into politics. Internal democracy within political parties should be strengthened with transparent internal elections for the party office bearers, ticket distribution etc. State funding of election expenditure in kind should be considered to minimize impact of money and muscle power into politics. Provisions for mandatory public debates over issues of importance should be made between candidates of a particular constituency. This will give voters an opportunity to make well informed choice during voting. Also it will infuse critical thinking among candidates. There should be criteria of minimum organizational work done by an individual before claiming stakes in party posts or tickets.
Above reforms will open up political system for fresh talents which will breed political leadership and statesmanship. It will help to tackle poor perception regarding politics and politicians among general population. Also it will infuse confidence in electoral process and give credibility and impart legitimacy to government of day.Saturday, April 4, 2015
Section 66A
Section 66A of IT Act provided for punishment of 3 years for “Offensive” comments posted, propagated through computer, internet etc. Article 19(1)a of constitution has provided for fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression. This right is restricted by article 19(2) which imposes “reasonable” restriction upon such freedom. Such reasonable restrictions include sovereignty and integrity of nation, public order, morality, insult and defamation, security or state, decency and incitement of an offence.
In light of above background let’s debate validity of Sec 66A of IT act. Posting and propagating any message or comment through computer and internet is a form of expression. Communication through internet differs from traditional methods of communication in audience and speed of dissemination. Messages over internet are subjected to very high speed of dissemination and can reach to large number of audience in very short interval of time. “Offensive comment” literally means anything that causes hurt to anyone. Being offended depends upon individual’s personality. Similar comment may leave one unaffected and other deeply hurt. Such wide interpretations make the phrase “offensive comment” very vague in meaning.
Today social media has become important tool to show and propagate one’s dissent, anger and frustration especially over public discourse. Such expression may involve direct or veiled attack upon individuals and institutions. It may be in the form of satire, sarcasm, cartoons etc. In diverse democracy of India everyone can not be expected to be in consent with public affairs. Different point of view ought to exist. This diversity is healthy for Indian Democracy. Vagueness of section 66A gave opportunity to gag such freedom through misuse of statute. Most of the highlighted arrests made under this section had been for trivial issues.
As for as “reasonable restrictions” mentioned under article 19(2) are concerned, there are various laws and sections of IPC to enforce such restrictions. Aggrieved person can approach competent authority under appropriate sections for redressal. Vagueness of said section and availability of other remedies were basis of striking down of it by SC.
However, uniqueness of internet media in terms of audience and speed demands special law to handle misuse of IT. Such law should provide sufficient safeguards against misusing and trivialization. Any intentional hurt caused to anyone should be punished as one’s liberty ends at the point where others’ start. Absolute freedom of liberty should not degrade into absolute liberty.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Absoluteness of Morality
Morality in simple terms means codes concerning with good or bad behaviour. There can not be debate over necessity of morality. What constitutes morality remains topic of contention. Debate over morality raises many questions, most curious question remains over absoluteness of morality. Whether it changes with time and space or there is any universally applicable codes of morality.
Proponents of "subjective morality" argue that acceptability any code of conduct by society makes it moral. They equate acceptability by society with correctness of behaviour. They support point of view that any code is moral because society accepts is as correct. Acceptability by society of any behaviour depends upon prevalence of such behaviour. For example live-in relationship was unacceptable in Indian societies 15-20 years ago thus was considered immoral. With passage of time prevalence of such relationships increased and becoming more and more acceptable at-least in urban societies. Thus this is no more considered immoral. Similarly opposing live-in relationship was considered moral 15-20 years ago, now it becomes immoral. Since composition of society varies with time and space thus morality also varies with time and space. Contemporary societies also differ in their concept of correct conduct. Such subjective conception of morality creates problems for followers of moral conduct. It creates confusion with regards to good conduct. An individual may define moral codes as per his or her convenience. Such like minded individuals may come together and constitute a society and for this society certain act may be justified and may be argued as moral because this "society"accepts it. One of the greatest example of such misuse of acceptability concept is justification of violence, rape, torture by ISIS. As per their code of morality believers of some other faith needs to be slaughtered like animals. Also certain tribes had backing to head hunting. Can such act be ever called moral? This dilemma gives birth to "Objective Morality'.
Concept of "objective morality" believes that moral concepts are absolute. Any deviation from such code of conduct becomes immoral. Problem with such concept is with respect to what are conducts. Is there any compilation of such codes? Can religious scriptures be taken as such compilation? To larger extent answer of this question is yes but there should be reasonable interpretation. Opponents discard religious morality arguing that religion is matter of faith and morality a territory of reason. Such blind opposition fails to assimilate fact that interpretation of religious texts needs reasoning. Further reasoning may strengthen faith whenever faith is proved. All religions have common teachings like mercy, non-violence, truthfulness etc. Therefore reasonably interpreted texts can act as good guide with respect to moral codes.
Another approach towards morality can be based upon means and ends. Any behaviour can be put to test so as to what are means to commit an act and possible outcomes. If any of means or ends are wrong then such act becomes immoral. This concept also falls under objective morality. Accepting absolute concept of morality avoids problems of subjectivity. Pious concepts of morality can not be left to the mercy of society.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Euphoria of Utopia
Delhi assembly election results have surprised everyone within political spheres and outside as well. National and international media attention has been disproportionate to the de facto political importance of Delhi. Delhi assembly is nothing more than glorified municipality citing geography and demography. Unprecedented mandate given in favour of AAP can best be described as euphoria for utopia. Despite not having much influence on national politics in theory, Delhi results may have serious percussions on Indian politics eventually.
It is easier to label any strategy as poor after retrospective analysis in light of results. Nonetheless such retrospective introspections help to evolve. Loss of BJP can be attributed to multiple factors important ones being negative campaigning by opposition, de facto United opposition, practically defunct Delhi state BJP unit, impatience of voters and lack of understanding of governance.
Central government should have conducted Delhi elections immediately after LS victory. Elections in june-july would have helped BJP in two ways. First they would have escaped from anti-incumbency of 9 months and secondly AAP would not have got opportunity to regroup. AAP has successfully projected itself as anti-establishment party. Right from day one they started maligning BJP and central government especially on unsubstantiated claims of horse-trading, unfairly targeting central government for steep rise in food inflation in july-Aug 2013 when it was barely 2 months in the office, on e-rickshaw issue etc. Rudimentary BJP delhi unit helped AAP with no leader having clean image and credibility. AAP campaign was centred around damaging reputation of BJP and government at centre at any cost be it with help of misinformation, lies or distorted facts be it inflation, issue of Delhi BJP chief's conflict of interest etc. A complete book can be written detailing lies and misinformation spread by AAP in last 9 months.
Congress after decimation in LS elections and 4 state elections thereafter was well aware about their prospects in Delhi elections. Strategy of unified opposition had worked well in Bihar and UP assembly by-polls. It was well evident that only unified opposition can tackle charisma of Modi. Any explicit tie up between AAP and Congress might have won delhi but definitely lost elsewhere. Therefore congress helped implicitly AAP by lacklustre campaign in Delhi. It would not be useless to talk about explicit support by other parties here because although there is no presence of these parties at macro level but there is certain fixed vote bank of these parties at ground level. Thus centralisation of anti-BJP vote is one of the major factor behind defeat BJP. BJP has gained in terms of absolute votes and lost marginally vote share but grievously lost seats.
Delhi BJP unit has been marred with infighting, lack of credible leader and good communicator. On the one hand volunteers of AAP had started door to door campaign as early as September, delhi BJP couldn't match their intensity even after election dates were announced. Lack of credible leader forced BJP to adopt Kiran Bedi in 11th hour as CM candidate. Kiran Bedi is proved excellent administrator. Her entry in BJP decimated personal ambitions of many local BJP leaders. Her loss from safest seat proves the point that she was defeated by BJP. This is not good sign for organisational discipline of BJP. Practically there was no coordination between central and state units of BJP with state unit not only remaining uncooperative, it negatively campaigned as well. No election can be won without cooperation from ground level cadre. AAP succeeded in labelling Mrs Bedi as opportunist, liar etc with little truth but BJP failed to communicate her as good administrator whichnis world known fact. Lack of communication from Mrs Bedi helped AAP to make perception that she will be Remote Control CM if she wins.
Only thing positive in AAP campaign was their manifesto. Detailed reasoned study of manifesto reveals that most of things promised are either poor economics, extreme socialism and out of jurisdiction of Delhi government. People believed AAP manifesto because they don't understand technicalities of governance and economics. Unfortunately we are still following imperial era educational system which was designed to make us literate not educated. It does not develop critical thinking. AAP exploited this ignorance of people. Conservative estimates suggest that execution of AAP manifesto will need around 4 lac crore Rs against budget of 40000 crore Rs. Some of the promises made like full statehood, restructuring DDA are not under jurisdiction of Delhi government. People are expecting subsidised electricity, free water etc. Freebies never come without cost. Untargeted subsidies are not only poor economics but are "reverse robinhood". AAP will blame central government for failure to fulfill promises made as anti-establishmentism is oxygen of this party.
Landslide victory for AAP should be warning sign for all political parties ajd nation. It shows impatience of voters. 9 months is too little time for reformative measures to yield visible results. Populism of UPA government had weaken fundamentals of economics. Thus it was imperative for new government to strengthen basics. Giving subsidy can yield result immediately butnit takes years to bridge demand supply. This was difference between 9 month and 49 days government. It would not be difficult to chose better ome fro two but impatience of voters has made them up myopic hedonists. It seems they want to enjoy immediately, compromising future without sacrifice. If any population choses freebies over reforms it deserves to be poor. Biggest example of socialism ruining state is that of WB where populism of left ruined the state. Such verdict will force other governments to be populist and which will weaken national economics.
Only good news for BJP is that ita vote bank has remained loyal. It means they still have faith in government. The onle lesson BJP should take from Delhi decimation is it should build disciplined selfless cadre with good dedication and communication skills.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Freedom of expression and its boundaries
Human beings are born free. Freedom is endowed by nature thus right to freedom becomes natural right. There should be no debate whether there is freedom of expression or not however, absoluteness of such freedom is debatable. Along with liberty another natural right conferred is that of equality. Challenge before modern society is to ensure equality of liberty. One's absolute liberty may infringe upon liberty of another person which is against principle of equality of liberty. Thus liberty has to be checked in order to ensure equality.
Freedom to follow one's faith is integral part of freedom of life. Also expression of one's opinion is also a fundamental freedom. Every faith has certain beliefs that are contrary to common sense or science. However such beliefs are fundamental to any religion or sect. Any attack on such beliefs or practices based upon such beliefs is seen as attack on religion itself. However any practice having inhumane aspect should be criticised and attempts to be made to abolish such practice. Reasoned debate and education are helpful in abolishing such practices. Practice of sati has been abolished successfully. However mocking one's faith through any form of expression condemnable. Whether it is painting nude pictures of demigods or cartoon of prophet, it should be condemned and attempts to be made to avoid such things . However vandalism and violence is no answer to such practice. Therefore Charlie Hebedo incident should be criticised. Further making cartoon of prophet and thus hurting religious sentiments of Muslims has to be countered with equal vigour.
In Indian context freedom of expression is limited by public order and morality. Constitution along with guarantee of freedom of expression puts above limitations. Further Indian secularism means religious tolerance and equal respect to all religions. Mocking a particular religion is like showing inferiority of such faith. Such acts become unconstitutional as these violate secularism in spirit if not in letter. Further such acts may lead to a situation where certain fanatic groups may exploit sentiments of people and law and order situation may worsen. Thus there has to be reasonable restrictions over our freedom.
Government has responsibility to ensure equal freedom to all thus any government effort to curb freedom is not against concept of free society. Further our right of freedom is associated with duty to respect other's freedom hence there should be self regulated freedom.
Thus all acts like nude paintings of demigods, cartoon of prophet, mocking religious practices by movie etc should not only be avoided but condemned and punished by law. Its absolutely true that we had freedom but this is not absolute.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Conversion is fundamental right
Constitution has provided for freedom to follow faith and propagate the same. Also it provides for secular nature to be built. India is home to numerous religions and sects. Indian society has deep emotional connection with religion. Western secularism means indifference towards religion in matters of public discourse. Citing emotional attachments with religion application of western context of secularism in Indian society would have not been possible. Secularism has been modified into form of religious tolerance and respect of other religions.
Sanatan dharma or Hinduism is one of the oldest surviving religion on this earth. In fact it has been way of life, an integral component of social and cultural heritage. With spread of Buddhism and Jainism, invasion by various foreign rulers, establishment of mughal rule and British rule, people started converting to other religions due to distorted interpretation of vedic scriptures, karmakand, caste discrimination etc. Thus conversions have been ongoing process in our nation since centuries.
Religion of a person is determined by birth. Thus there is no freedom to choose primary religion. Therefore blindly forcing a particular religion doesn't go along spirit of freedom of religion. People by and large follow religion of parents. During conversions too minor children of family are forced upon a particular religion.
A complete freedom to follow religion should start with freedom to choose the faith one wishes to follow. Before such selection one needs to know about all religions for making well informed choice. Therefore everyone should be allowed to change his or her religion during lifetime. Blanket ban of conversions would hamper right to religion which is fundamental right as well as natural right.
However, no one should be preeched to convert by some offer, force or any other benefit. All conversions should be under free and fair environment. Conversion is also part of fundamental freedom to follow one's faith.
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