भाजपा की बैठक में क्या हुआ, क्या होना चाहिए था?

भाजपा अध्यक्ष नितिन गडकरी ने वरिष्ट नेताओं को कहा कि वह एक दूसरे को नीचा दिखाने की बजाये मिल कर काम करें. वरिष्ट नेताओं को अपने अध्यक्ष की इस सीख को मानना चाहिए. ऐसा कर के वह आयु और सोच दोनों से वरिष्ट हैं ऐसा साबित कर सकेंगे.
उन्होंने कहा कि राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ हमारा मार्ग दर्शन करता रहेगा. मुझे यह अच्छा लगा. सच बात को कहने में झिझक कैसी?
नेता टेंट्स में रहे, यह एक सही कदम था. आगे जीवन में भी वह सादगी अपनाएँ यह जरूरी है.
यह कहा गया कि भाजपा को केंद्र में सत्ता हासिल करने के लिए अपने बफादार वोटरों से आगे जा कर सब वोटरों से संपर्क करना चाहिए. सबसे मिलना चाहिए यह सही बात है, पर उद्देश्य सत्ता हासिल करना नहीं, सेवा करना होना चाहिए. सेवा करके जनता का विश्वास जीतेंगे तब जनता स्वयं देश की कमान भाजपा के हाथ में सौंप देगी.
भाजपा राम राज्य की बात करती है. मेरे विचार में उसे भरत राज्य की बात करनी चाहिए. भरत ने राम का प्रतिनिधि बन कर अयोध्या का कार्य भार संभाला, एक ट्रस्टी की तरह. भाजपा को जनता का प्रतिनिधि बन कर देश का कार्य भार संभालने की बात करनी चाहिए, एक ट्रस्टी की तरह, शासक बन कर नहीं.
मंदिर बनना चाहिए. मंदिर निर्माण को एक राजनीतिक मुद्दा न बना कर एक धार्मिक और सामजिक मुद्दा बना कर पेश करना चहिये. इसके लिए सबका विश्वास जीतना होगा.
दूसरे राजनीतिक दलों से राष्ट्र निर्माण के मुद्दे पर स्पर्धा होनी चाहिए, सस्ते बादों और तोड़ फोड़ पर नहीं.
सुषमा स्वराज ने कहा कि मध्य प्रदेश के मुख्य मंत्री ने गुजरात के मुख्य मंत्री द्वारा प्रदान की गई एक अच्छी शासन प्रणाली के बजाय एक संवेदनशील शासन प्रणाली प्रदान की. मेरी समझ में यह बात नहीं आई. क्या एक अच्छी शासन प्रणाली संवेदना रहित होती है? क्या एक संवेदनशील शासन प्रणाली अच्छी नहीं होती? मुझे तो दोनों में कोई अंतर नजर नहीं आता. सुषमा जी इन दोनों नेताओं में इस प्रकार अंतर दिखा कर क्या हासिल करना चाहती हैं? अगर भाजपा में इस प्रकार की गुट बंदी चलती रही तब भाजपा इस देश का भला नहीं करपायेगी.

Have you ever written a letter to President or Prime Minister?

There will not be many Indian citizens who have ever written a letter to the President and/or Prime Minister. There is a general feeling amongst the citizens that no useful purpose will be served by writing letters to them as citizens' letters never reach them. Even if letters reach them, they have no time to reply. This is a very sad commentry about the functioning of constitutional authorities in India. What does it really mean? In my opinion it means that citizens have no faith in them.

I am one of those Indian citizens who have written few letters to them. As a senior citizen of India I expected that they will reply, but not even an acknowledgement was sent by their office. Both President Secretriat and PM Office have a large number people working in these offices and can acknolwledge letters received by them. But these seems to a culture of acknoledging letters from common citizens of India. As per news item, President will focus on aam aadmi in her address to parliament today. Will she touch on it that letters received from common citizens of India should be acknowledged?

When a citizen will write a letter to the Prime Minister or President? Only when all avenues have failed to provide justice. I friend told me that once he received a letter from PMO that his letter to PM had been forwarded to the same department for taking appropriate action. That is all, these constitutional authorities do.

The top has failed in this country.

अच्छा ही देखो, अच्छा ही सुनो, अच्छा ही बोलो

इंसान में अच्छाई और बुराई दोनों होती हैं. प्रेम भी होता है, नफरत भी होती है. अच्छे लोग इंसान की अच्छाई और प्रेम की भावना को उभारते हैं. बुरे लोग इंसान की बुराई और नफरत की भावना को उभारते हैं. ऐसा करने में दोनों का अपना स्वार्थ होता है. अच्छे लोग चाहते हैं संसार में अच्छाई और प्रेम का साम्राज्य स्थापित हो. बुरे लोग चाहते हैं संसार में बुराई और नफरत का एक छत्र साम्राज्य स्थापित हो.

गांधीजी ने कहा, बुरा मत देखो, बुरा मत सुनो, बुरा मत कहो. बहुत सही बात कही बापू ने. पर इस के लिए उन्होंने बंदरों की आँखों, कान और मुंह पर हाथ रखवा दिया. इससे क्या होगा? क्या आँख बंद कर लेने से संसार में बुरा होना बंद हो जाएगा. क्या कान बंद कर लेने से लोग बुरा कहना बंद कर देंगे. हाँ यह जरूर है कि बुरा कहने और न कहने पर आपका अधिकार है. लेकिन इस के लिए अगर आप मुंह बंद कर लेंगे तब तो आप अच्छा भी नहीं कह पायेंगे. मेरे विचार में यह एक नकारात्मक सोच है,पलायनवाद है.

मैं कहना चाहूंगा - अच्छा ही देखो, अच्छा ही सुनो, अच्छा ही बोलो. संसार में अच्छा बुरा सब हो रहा है, हम जो हो रहा है उस में अच्छा ही देखें, जो बुरा हो रहा है उसकी और ध्यान न दें, उस से प्रभावित न हों. इसी प्रकार संसार में लोग अच्छा बुरा दोनों कहते हैं, हम केवल अच्छा ही सुनें, बुरा अनसुना कर दें, उस से प्रभावित न हों. जब बोलें तब अच्छा ही बोलें. कभी कटु शब्दों का उच्चारण न करें. सत्य भाषण करें. असत्य कहने से बचें. इस प्रकार स्वयं में अच्छाई बढ़ाते जाएँ और बुराई कम करते जाएँ. दूसरों में अच्छाई ही देखें, उनकी बुराई को अनदेखा करें.

संसार में अच्छाई और प्रेम का साम्राज्य स्थापित करने में हम से जो भी सहयोग हो करें. यही संसार में सब से बड़ी सेवा है. यही ईश्वर की सब से बड़ी पूजा है.

आप डरपोक नागरिक क्यों बनें?

सब को अपनी सुरक्षा का अधिकार है. अगर पुलिस और सरकार उनकी सुरक्षा नहीं कर सकती तब उन्हें पूरा अधिकार है कि वह अपनी रक्षा खुद करें चाहे इसमें आकामक व्यक्ति की जान ही क्यों न चली जाए. सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने इस बारे में १० सूत्री दिशा निर्देश दिए हैं. कोर्ट के अनुसार खतरे से डर कर भागना कायरता है. कायर न बनें.

तीन सवाल ???

पडोसी देश ने,
हड़प ली जमीन हमारी,
इंच-इंच करके,
पर सरकार सोती रही,
कुछ न कर पाई,
न ही कुछ करना चाहा,
क्या देश सुरक्षित है,
ऐसी सरकार के हाथों में?

एक लेखक की किताब,
खूब बिकी, खूब बिकी,
परम्परा के अनुसार,
उन्होंने एक लेख में लिखा,
कश्मीर दे दो पाकिस्तान को,
किसी ने कुछ नहीं कहा,
न कोई फतवा,
न ही कोई भर्त्सना,
क्या देश सुरक्षित है,
ऐसे लेख्कों के हाथों में?

मैं दिल्ली में रहता हूँ,
बड़ा अजीब लगता है,
प्रधानमन्त्री, मुख्यमंत्री,
अक्सर बयान देते हैं,
दिल्ली को बनायेंगे,
सबसे खूबसूरत शहर,
मेरी कालोनी के पार्क में,
घुमते हैं कुत्ते और सुवर,
क्या मेरा शहर सुरक्षित है,
ऐसे नेताओं के हाथों में?

इतिहास को शर्मिंदा करते यह राजनीतिबाज

यह व्यक्ति भारत का प्रधानमन्त्री रह चुका है. इस पद की गरिमा का जो अनादर इस ने किया है उस से इतिहास शर्मिंदा हुआ है. जनता इन्हें अपना प्रतिनिधि चुनती है और यह लोग जनता को हर तरह से शर्मिंदा करते हैं. सदन में राजनीतिबाजों का व्यवहार, गाली-गलौज, मार-पीट अब तक कुछ राजनीतिबाजों तक सीमित थी, पर अब तो प्रधानमन्त्री रह चुके राजनीतिबाज भी इसमें करतब दिखाने लगे हैं. सत्ता का लालच किसी व्यक्ति को इतना नीचे गिरा सकता है यह सोच कर ही घबराहट होती है.

आप लोग समझते नहीं हैं,

बहुत मुश्किल होता है हाशिये पर बैठना,
केंद्र में पी एम् की कुर्सी पर बैठने के बाद,
दिमाग खराब हो जाता है,
सही गलत की समझ नहीं रहती,
जिसे दर्द होता है वही जानता है,
आप लोग समझते तो हैं नहीं.

नेताओं के स्मारकों पर लगेंगे हर समय मेले !!!

ऐसा पहली बार नहीं हुआ जब देश के वीर जवानों ने, और शहीदों के परिवारों ने मैडल राष्ट्रपति को लौटा दिए हों. उन मेडल्स को वापिस लेते हुए राष्ट्रपति को कैसा लगा होगा यह तो मैं नहीं जानता पर मुझे यह पढ़ कर बहुत बुरा लगा, शर्म भी महसूस हुई. क्या हो गया है इस देश को, इस देश की जनता को, इस देश के नेताओं को? क्या कहते हैं, शर्म को पानी में घोल कर पी गए हैं. या कहें, नंग बड़े परमेश्वर से. या फिर्काहें की अगर कुछ शर्म बाकी है तो डूब मरो चुल्लू भर पानी में.

बचपन में पढ़ा था - शहीदों की चिताओं पर लगेंगे हर बरस मेले, वतन पर मरने वालों का यही बाकी निशाँ होगा.

आने वाले बच्चे पढेंगे - नेताओं के स्मारकों पर लगेंगे हर समय मेले, देश को लूटने वालों का यही बाकी निशाँ होगा.

माया महा ठगिनी हम जानी

बैसे तो सभी राजनीतिबाज ठग होते हैं, जो किसी न किसी रूप में जनता को ठगते ही रहते हैं. पर माया ने तो ठगी के नए रिकार्ड स्थापित किये हैं. दलितों के नाम पर अपनी नेतागिरी चमकाने वाले नेताओं की इस देश में कमी नहीं, पर माया का मुकाबला कोई नहीं कर सकता. बचपन में पढ़ा था, माया महा ठगिनी हम जानी. अब उस कहावत को मूर्त रूप में चरितार्थ होते भी देख लिया. जो एक भूखे-नंगे दलित से लेकर सुप्रीम कोर्ट के जजों तक को ठगने का साहस रखती हो उस माया का क्या कहना.

जिस के कहने पर दलित भूखा-नंगा रह कर भी अपनी प्रिय नेता को जन्म दिन का उपहार दे उस की ठगी तो चमत्कार सी लगती है. ब्राह्मणों को सुबह शाम गरियाने वाली माया के चरण स्पर्श करने को ब्राह्मण लालायित हों, ऎसी ठगी कहीं देखी हे आपने? धन्य है ऐसी ठगी और ठगने वाली.

Austerity drive and peoples' representatives

चुनते समय हमने तो सोचा था कि वह हमारा प्रतिनिधित्व करेंगे, पर उनका इरादा तो जनता के पैसे पर ऐयाशी करने का था. जितने रुपये उन्होंने होटल के किराए में उड़ा दिए उतने तो हमने सारी जिन्दगी में देखे तक नहीं.

सारी जिन्दगी टूटी-फूटी बसों और रेल के निचले दर्जे में सफ़र करते रहे. हवाई जहाज का तो कभी सोचा तक नहीं. पर पवार साहब का कहना है कि उन्हें हवाई जहाज में ऊपरी दर्जे में बैठ कर काम करना अच्छा लगता है. एक और महान आत्मा का कहना है कि हवाई जहाज में निचले दर्जे में बैठने से उनकी प्राइवेसी में बुरा सर पड़ेगा. भैया जब वोट मांगने आये थे तब करते इस प्राइवेसी कि बात. हम आपको बिलकुल प्राइवेट कर देते. अब हम क्या करें. अब पछताए क्या होत है जब नेता ले गया वोट.

Creating records

वाह भाई वाह, कमाल कर दिया बच्चू महाराज ने. ठीक समय तक इंतज़ार किया इस संसार में आने का. पैदा होते अखवार की सुर्खियों में. वधाई हो.

एक हम हैं. साठ के हो गए पर एक बार भी ख़बरों में नहीं आये. उधर एक बिटिया ने पिता की पुलिस में शिकायत कर दी कि उन्होंने मम्मी को बाल कटवाने पर डांट दिया, और आ गई खबर में. बेचारे पिता लम्बे बालों की तारीफ़ करते थकते नहीं थे पर न ख़बरों में आये न ही पद्म श्री मिला. अब किन बालों की तारीफ़ करेंगे? दुःख हुआ और पत्नी को डांट दिया, बेचारे की जेल जाने की नौबत आ गई. धन्य हैं ऐसी पुत्री और पत्नी. नारी बाकी आगे निकल गई है, और आगे निकलने में पीछे छोड़ गई है पिता और पति को.

So waht!!! It is no big deal.

तो क्या हुआ भैया? हिन्दू तो होते ही हैं मार खाने के लिए. पाकिस्तान में हैं तो वहां मार खाएँगे. हिन्दुस्तान में हैं तो यहाँ मार खाएँगे. पता नहीं इस में खबर जैसी क्या बात है जो मुख्य प्रष्ट पर छाप दिया? यह अखवार वाले भी बस कुछ न कुछ उछालते रहते हैं. गुजरात की बात हो तो सही भी हैं छापना. पाकिस्तान में हिन्दुओं पर अत्याचार की खबर हिन्दुस्तान में, छि छि, यह सही नहीं है.

They have their own rules

पहले तेजिंदर खन्ना, फिर शीला दीक्षित, फिर पी चिदंबरम, सब ने डांटा दिल्ली वालों को, पर इन्हें तमीज नहीं आई. अब डांट लगा दी,मारीशस के राजदूत महोदय ने भी. अबे दिल्ली वालों अब तो समझ जाओ, बरना इसी तरह डांट खाते रहोगे, घर वालों की भी और बाहर वालों की भी. तुम्हारे घटियापन पर शर्मिंदा होते रहेंगे यह बेचारे महान नेतागण और इन की मालकिन सोनिया जी.

Government makes rules as one job of the government is to make rules. Traffic police say - drive in lane. These leaders have to say something so they say it.

वह आजाद मुल्क के आजाद नागरिक हैं. उन्हें लेन में बंधना पसंद नहीं. उन्हें जहाँ जगह मिलेगी वहां गाड़ी चलाएंगे. जरूरत पड़ी तो फुटपाथ पर भी.

Punish them

Who is responsible? Will anybody be held accountable and punished?

लोग रात-दिन मेहनत करके हैं, पसीना बहाते हैं, तब कहीं जाकर दो वक़्त की रोटी का जुगाड़ कर पाते हैं. कुछ तो भूखे पेट ही सो जाते हैं. क्या किसी को उनकी चिंता है?

भ्रष्टाचारी सरकार और उस के बाबू ऐयाशी करते हैं और तान कर सोते हैं. अनाज खराब जाए तो हो जाए, इनका तो पेट भरा है. सालों से अनाज खराब हो रहा है पर किसी को चिंता नहीं. अखबार लिखता है तो लिखता रहे. इनके ऊपर कोई कानून लागू नहीं होता.

People every time face them

Earlier Delhi people were being tortured by Delhi government. Now Delhi government has entered in to a joint venture with BSES to tortureg Delhi people.

भैया, पहले एक मारता था, अब दो मारते हैं, तो चोट तो ज्यादा लगेगी न, और दर्द भी ज्यादा होगा. दिल्ली में रहने की यह कीमत तो चुकानी पड़ेगी. अब तीसरी बार गले में वर माला डाली है उनके. इस प्यार का मजा तो भुगतना ही पड़ेगा. जो नहीं होना चाहिए वह है और जो होना चाहिए वह नहीं है. सड़क में गड्ढे और बिजली गायब. बिजली गायब पर दुगने-तिगने बिल.

Politicians and promise

Politicians never fulfil their promises. A person fulfilling promises can never be a successful politician.

पता नहीं अखवार ने इस खबर को मुख प्रष्ट पर क्यों छापा? वादाखिलाफी तो राजनीतिबाजों की पहचान है. जैसे गुड मीठा होता है बैसे ही राजनीतिबाज वादाखिलाफी करता है. यह खबर तब बनती जब मायावती ने अपना वादा निभाया होता.

मूर्ति पूजा - सेकुलर स्टाइल

ईश्वर की मूर्ति पूजा गलत है, पर मेरी ??????

जिस प्रदेश में किसान अपना घर, जमीन और पत्नी तक गिरवी रख दे, और उस प्रदेश की मुखिया करोडों रुपये खर्च करके अपनी और अपने नेता की मूर्तियाँ लगवाए ताकि दलित जनता उनकी पूजा कर अपना सम्मान प्रर्दशित कर सके, इसे क्या कहेंगे - महानता का उच्च स्तर या गिराबट और बेशर्मी का निम्न स्तर? दलितों के नाम का फायदा उठा कर कुर्सी पर बैठे यह नेता, दलितों की जिंदगी नरक बना रहे हैं. उनके मुहँ से रोटी छीन कर अपनी मूर्तियाँ और स्मारक बना रहे हैं. अपने इन शर्मनाक कामों पर गर्व करते हैं यह लोग, पर अफ़सोस, दलित अभी भी इनके छलाबे में आ रहे हैं.

सोचिये, पर जरा ऊंची आवाज़ में.

.....not only babus but also politicians

Peoples' perception is correct, but it also includes politcians.

केबल बाबुओं को दोष देना सही बात नहीं है. बाबुओं को भ्रष्ट बनाया जिन्होनें वह राजनीतिबाज तो महाभ्रष्ट हैं. दोनों ने मिल कर इस महान देश कबाड़ा कर दिया है.

A right move at last .........

All right minded persons will agree with this move to isolate so-called jihadis from Islam.

एक आम मुसलमान से बात करो तो वह इन जिहादियों को अपराधी ही मानता है, पर न जाने क्यों मिल कर वह इन अपराधियों को अपनी कौम से बाहर नहीं निकाल पाते. क्या मजबूरी है उनकी? इन अपराधियों के कारण, इस्लाम सारी दुनिया में बदनाम हो रहा है, पर हर बात पर इकठ्ठा हो जाने वाले मुसलमान इन के खिलाफ इकठ्ठा नहीं हो पाते. देखिये इस फैसले का क्या असर होता है?

.......... Beacuse Delhi is a world class city

Don't you agree with my answer Mrs Dikshit?

एक कहावत है, बोया पेड़ बबूल का तो आम कहाँ से खाय. तीसरी बार फिर शीला दीक्षित को मुख्य मंत्री बना कर हम ने खुद ही तो मुसीवतों के इस पेड़ को हरा भरा बना रखा है. यह सारी समस्यायें पिछले सालों में भी थीं, पर फिर से शीला जी को जिता कर हम ने इन समस्यायों को और बढ़ा लिया है. अब जैसा किया है बैसा भुगतो.

A good article

Read it. I need not make a chutney of it.

Is country's future safe in these hands?

Yes, who will pay the bill for this duction of public property?

क्या भारत का भविष्य इन हाथों में सुरक्षित है?

Hats off to you Mr. Joshi. All of them are doing it, but only you have the courage to say it in public. लगे रहो जोशी भाई.

भाई यह राजनीतिबाज एक बार कुर्सी पर बैठ गए तो बैठ गए. अभी तो भ्रष्टाचार के, लोलुपता के, कुर्सी प्रेम के कई आदर्श स्थापित करने हैं इन्होनें.

भाई यह नीली कातिल बसें तो रहेंगी. अभी तो बहुत से इंसानों की जान लेनी है इन्होनें. जिनकी बसें हैं उन्हीं से यह उम्मीद करना की वह इन्हें हटायेंगे, क्या परले दर्जे की बेबकूफी नहीं है?

Criminal waste of public money

I will not make any chutney of this news except saying that it is shameful for shameless political parties and politicians.

दलितों के नाम पर दलितों के नेताओं की मूर्तियाँ और स्मारक बना कर यह नेता इतिहास में अमर होने का प्रयास कर रहे हैं. दलितों को रोटी चाहिए नेताओं की मूर्ति नहीं. उन्हें सम्मानपूर्वक जीने का अवसर चाहिए, इन नेताओं के प्रति सम्मान प्रकट करने के लिए यह स्मारक और पार्क नहीं. दो जून की रोटी जुटाने के लिए यह दलित अपना मकान, जमीन और पत्नी तक गिरवी रख देते हैं, और यह नेता करो़डों रूपए अपनी मूर्तियाँ बनाने पर वेदर्दी से खर्च कर देते हैं. अगर अपनी पूजा करवाने का इतना ही शौक है तो यह नेता खुद क्यों नहीं मूर्तियों की जगह खड़े हो जाते? पत्थर की मूर्तियों की जगह जिन्दा मूर्तियों की पूजा करना ज्यादा बेहतर होगा.

Power Game - consumer is always the looser

They call it privatization of power distribution, but in fact it is a money game. They have all excuses to defend their corruption, ineffecient and ineffecrtive working. Poor consumer was always a victim and now also he is the victim.

ग्राहक राजा है, कह कर ग्राहक को खूब मूर्ख बनाते हैं यह सरकार, एनजीओ और उत्पाद-सेवा विक्रेता. सरकार ने कानून बनाया, ग्राहक अदालतें बना दीं. दूसरी अदालतों की तरह वकीलों ने इन पर भी कब्जा कर लिया. एक आम ग्राहक खुद इन ग्राहक अदालतों में अपना केस नहीं लड़ सकता. बड़े सरकारी महकमे, उत्पाद-सेवा विक्रेता बड़े-बड़े वकील खड़े कर देते हैं. लाखों रुपये इन वकीलों को दे देते हैं पर कुछ रुपयों का मुआवजा एक असंतुष्ट ग्राहक को नहीं दे सकते. ग्राहक अदालतों में वकीलों के प्रवेश पर पावंदी लगनी चाहिए.

After reading this news, only one word comes to my mind - SHAME - and it repaets itself infinite times - SHAME, SHAME, SHANE, SHAME, ..............................

This man Hussain has hurt me many times. Then there are people who have hurt me in his name. This is the new case of hurting me. I did not know that this man Hussain had criticized Raja Ravi Verma. I knew that he is a lowly person, but I did not know that he will stoop so low. Now an award is anounced for him which is in the name of Raja Ravi Verma. Will this man accept this award? I think so. SHAME, SHAME ....................

Misusing law and religion

Bad news for those who convert to Islam to marry more than one women.

How sweet of the Judge to be so sweet on Sweety? He should not be corrupted by 'bad company' in jail. He has already been corrupted by good company outside the jail.

Poor husbands will pour out their hearts in the cooler climate of Shimla. What about the heat they will face after return to their dear wives?

Raining standards of clean public life

Wow, so many standards set for clean public life by so many people holding constitutional posts. I wanted to break this news but find myself short of right words. But as an Indian I feel very proud of these great Indians.

So many living Indians do not have a roof over their heads but Meira wants a house for her dead father.

George can not stand and does not recognize anybody but wants to serve the nation by bcoming a member of RS, and RS elects him for his, perhaps, last innings of public service.

Buta says he will end his life if asked to resign, another great Indian .

SC gives a license to MILs for ill-treating DILs.

SC does not want RTI to be applicable on judges. I always thought that if people are honest then why fear.

Pak wants independent Kashmir, another boost to MMS blind faith in Pakistan.

Judges should set standards of clean public life

Whnever I speak, read or write the word 'Neta', image of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose comes before my eyes. Everytime this word is used for present day politicians, I feel hurt. There is only one word which suits them is 'Rajnitibaaj'. So much so for the hurt caused to me by TOI by using this word for present day rajnitibaaj community. Let us now break the news.

I do not understand that why judges should not be asked to declare their assets and why this information should not be made public. Judges are also human beings like us. This is really unfortunate that those members of society who are expected to set standards of cleanliness in public life misuse their position to be above the law and set unethical standards. The law can not be different for different members of the society. Rather a policy of zero tolerance should be applicable to those who occupy constitutional posts. At least judges should place duty before right.

Hanging head in shame

Home Minister said that 'we should hang our heads in shame'. TOI, in this news item, says that 'should we hang our heads in shme, Mr HM?' Who is this 'we' here? Does this 'we' include HM and Media. I think it does not. I have not seen any head hanging in shame. Have you seen?

It has aroused my interest . I will like to see, how people hang their heads in shame? Will PC or someone in media will demonstrate this?

How does he communicate with PM?

Buta Singh said that he has briefed PM, but what medium of communication has has used for this briefing? He hmself has said that he has requested for an appointment with PM and the same is yet to be granted. Perhaps he met PM in his dream. I do not unnderstand why these politicians are not retired? Why they are given such posts? Why our nation should look after these liabilities? Indian people do not pay their hard-earned money as taxes to waste on these people.

National assets

Gas is a national asset. Yes, but what about water? Is water also a national asset? If yes then how big companies are allowed to sell water? Also, are trditional Indian values (honesty, truthfulness, non-violence etc) are also national assets? If yes, then how politicians and babus are allowed to de-value them and sell for a price.

Think twice before saving a tree

Normally it should be 'think twice before killing a tree'. But as the news in photo suggests, the right advice in today's India is 'think twice before saving a tree'. A law is there to protect people but people are killed every day. Likewise there is a law to protect trees but trees are killed every day. A government which is not able to protect its citizens, can certainly not be expected to protect trees.

We do not deserve this

Some headlines:

"Blame Game on as city struggles to just move"

"Drains choked, court frowns"

"Wading game - Even as it did not rain the entire Monday night, civic bodies were unable to put their act together olear the mess. Office goers were caught in long jams on Tuesday"

"2-hour drive drive from DND to Moolchand"

"Dwarka underpass turns into pool, buses trapped"

"Got out to fix tyre, saw tree crashing"

"After downpour, taps run dry"

Why should he get governor post?

Is India under any obligation to keep him in good humour by making him a minister, and if not then a governor? Why country should be penalised for showing loyalty to a family? If congress wants to reward him for his loyalty then let congress make him President of the congress. If the family wants to reward him then let them do it from their own pocket. I do not pay taxes to reward such people. 

Punish those responsible

"Goof-up", 

An innocent inadvertant omission or a carefully planned mistake to protect 'killer' doctors? My vote is for the later. I am sure that majority will vote for the later. Punish those responsible for this crminal goof-up. 

TOI Editorial - Looking Within

If I was TOI Editor, I will not print this editorial. I will not go in to the reasons for this, but I will tell you which editorial I will print?

I will print an editorial on relationship - "Crisis of relationship", and I will address it not to one political party only, but to all political parties, social and un-social organizations, and to all Indians. India is progressing on all fronts but in this progress relationship has become the biggest casualty - relationship inside the family, in the locality, in the city, in the state, in the nation, in schools, in offices, in factories, in government, every where. 

We are creating better life for us but what use it will be to us if we can not enjoy life with our family, friends, colleagues, fellow citizens? Let us pause in our tracks and create a little love for us and for others. 

Is Indian education system effective?

Many people say that Indian education system is faulty. In my opinion it does not sound appropriate. Any system which is operational is a successful system. This applies to Indian education system also. It has produced and is still producing good doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers..... Many of them are experts in their respective fields. Their achievements are commendable. Seeing the result, one can not say that the system is wrong or faulty. Then what is the problem? Why Indian education system is not able to provide expected results?

The answer is not simple. Indian education system is a dynamic system. It has evolved in the past and is still evolving. It should be judged on its good points and bad points on a long term basis. In other words one should try to determine whether the system is effective, and effective to what extent, and whether any improvements are needed to make it more and more effective. Let us analyse Indian Education System. In doing so, it should be noted that I am using the term 'effective to what extent' and not 'ineffective'. The purpose is to adopt the positive approach in analyzing the system. However, I accept that present Indian education system is proving ineffective if seen from what is happening in educational institutions and the quality of people these institutions are turning out.

What is the meaning of education - is it studying or practicing? Now-a-days the education is being looked as an instrument of only acquiring knowledge. We have forgotten that the basic meaning of education is practicing. The term 'prcaticing' includes acquiring knowledge and then properly using it through practice. Acquiring or knowing is also education but it is not the whole of education. Putting to proper use what one has acquired or learnt is an important part of education. I will go one step further. Use of acquired knowledge should result in larger benefits to the society and people. In this respect one would say that Indian education system is effective to some extent and needs lot of improvements, in properly understanding the basic meaning of education and the right methodlogy of practicing it.

Education has four dimensions - development of body, the mind, the intellect, and emotional development. In short education should result in overall development of the people. Present education system is effective to the extent that it puts stress on two aspects, physical and intellectual. In this sense it needs improvement to put stress on other two aspects also, mental and emotional development. This means that due importance should also be given to the building of character and to discipline.

Another improvement required here is that people should start desisting from putting all the blame for problems in society on the system of education. It should be realized that it is futile to seek the effect when the cause is absent. On one hand, people are not making any effort to include character building and discipline in education system, but on the other hand they blame the system for any problems in the society, seen as a direct or indirect result of characterlessmess and indiscipline.

Present education system does not put stress on refinement of outlook, behaviour and feelings. Right outlook, right behaviour and right feelings are essential for progress in any society and nation. In one word we can say that education should result in development of a positive approach towards life and people. If the education system develops even a feeling for need of refinement it will be a major improvement in its effectiveness.

Education is being seen as a business these days. Considering India a major customer base, many foreign educational insstitutions have opened their centres in India. Indian government is also putting more stress on providing inceasing number of seats in educational institutions. But in doing this, quality aspect of education is missing. No doubt, UGC, AICTE and other bodies are boasting of their systems for improving quality of education, the result is not seen as expected. This will not happen untill people understand the basic purpose of education. If considered as a business, educational institutions should be run in an ethical manner.

Making mockery of social justice - creamy layer is still backward!

UPA government, it seems, is out to create records in introducing unethical and backward legeslations . The cabinet has approved quota bill, another backward step by UPA government. A very good opportunity has been wasted. It was the right time to review reservation policy and introduce alternative schemes to lift backward groups in Indian society. But for short-term political gains, the govt has sacrified long-term social gains of creating harmony in the society.

It is very unfortunate that cabinet has not agreed with socil justice ministry's view that it should be ensured that benefits go only to most backward classes. The creamy layer has already taken benefits of this quota raj. Why they should be allowed to take it again and again where a large majority remains without any benefit so far? It is umethical and immoral on behalf of those OBC ministers in the cabinet and other polticians and groups to blackmail the govt to not to exclude the creamy layer from quota benefits. Just imagine, children of Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and others getting in colleges through quota route as though they are still backward.

These politicians have made a mockery of social justice. In the name of quota for backward classes they garner every benefit themselves. Shame on them.

Ensuring social justice through information

I wish to congratulate YFE for seeking information, under RTI Act, from HRD ministry and other government bodies about Ramadoss’s misuse of his powers and anti-people actions, and also ill conceived anti-people reservation policy.

The office-of-profit act will surely nail Ramadoss. He has parked himself in AIIMS Guest House, appointed an OSD to be paid by AIIMS funds and brought his relatives into the AIIMS governing body. If this is not office-of-profit then ……

YFE application also seeks information on – “we want to know exactly what he is entitled to and why. SC has ruled that the health minister could become the President of AIIMS by default but the AIIMS Act was later amended to say that no body in the governing body was allowed to hold a government position.

YFE also want a clarification on why the minister landed up in AIIMS during anti-reservation strike for treating patients there. How could he treat patients at AIIMS just like that? Does that mean that any doctor can come and start practicing at the institute?

Other YFE application seeks all relevant data about reservation. This I am sure will expose the government and Arjun Singh.

Wonderful YFE, keep it up…….. This is the right way to ensure social justice.

Democracy and Nationalization of Higher EducationAn article by

An article by Shree S. Vinekar, MD

“Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness,” and “EQUALITY”, of course -- These are the fundamental rights and the virtues of democracy. Over the last few centuries many civilized democracies have attempted to redistribute the national and individual wealth to reduce inequalities in their populations. This is accomplished through taxation, increasing national productivity, industrialization, and other peaceful measures. Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru chose the path of socialism for India. Shri Vinoba Bhave attempted to redistribute land. There are many peaceful measures to uplift the deprived and the disadvantaged, and, as such, these are all noble efforts. Over the last fifty eight years in “Independent” “India that is Bharat,” such gradual efforts to combat poverty have succeeded, to some degree, in spite of the rapid population growth. In keeping with all the progress and successful reforms, India’s politicians and policy makers say, “NOW IT IS TIME TO REDISTRIBUTE THE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES on a larger scale than ever before.” On the surface, it sounds like a very noble objective, designed necessarily to redress the injustices of the past. It is high time that the evils of caste system or even the caste system itself be entirely overthrown in modern India. There seems to be no justification for such system in the modern world that is going through global shrinking. For seekers of the vote-bank, however, overzealous “affirmative action” is indeed an opportunity to appease the “minorities.” Politics is now directly entering the universities and institutions of higher learning. What is different about these just and noble sounding thrusts? The OBC reservation and quota system is an imposition on the current higher education systems both private and public. What is different about this protectionist proposal is that many deserving, hard working, meritorious students not belonging to OBC, classified as OC, both rich and poor, will be deprived of opportunities to further their careers that they have earned through their hard work and merit. Instead “their” “SEATS” in the universities and other institutions of higher learning will be offered by RESERVATION POLICIES in large numbers like 49 TO 70 PERCENT to students, for many of whom the only qualifications and admission eligibility may be their scheduled caste or minority classification, and not their merit nor their lower socioeconomic level. Needless to say that many students from the so-called “creamy layers” the well-to-do of OBC classes will claim access to these seats based upon their caste rather than merit. Significant number of non-deserving OBC students lacking merit will displace many deserving and meritorious students of the OC class as there are no current plans to sizably expand the current absolute number of educational opportunities or seats. This is the price the new generations of the OC class have to accept to pay to undo the injustices perpetrated by their past generations! Fair enough? Why do these OC brats whine and threaten to commit suicide when they lose opportunities, while their underprivileged brethren have lost a myriad of opportunities for many generations because of their caste, it may be asked. There is a basic fallacy that underlies this policy. It views the “SEATS” in the universities as if they are equivalent to ownership of land or property, guaranteed by the phrase “Pursuit of Happiness.” By generously offering the “seats” to the non-meritorious underprivileged it is assumed that the recipients of these seats will graduate (and no doubt some will be sincere, hard working, students and will graduate with distinction) and acquire the necessary knowledge base and skills given simply an opportunity to progress in the educational field of their choice. This is a simple minded selling point for the proposed policy. Educational opportunities, when made available to meritorious and deserving students of all classes and castes, no doubt, enable them to acquire cognitive abilities but COGNITIVE ABILITIES CANNOT BE REDISTRIBUTED. Moreover, if such attempt to redistribute is made, it will be a caricature of communism in the intangible domain of educational psychology. During fifty eight years of social and educational experiment with 15 to 27 percent of total seats allotted to OBC students, one would assume the Government or the Ministry of Education would have both demographic and achievement related accumulated data to arrive at intelligent, scientific, and evidence based recommendations to uplift the deserving students of the OBC class. Such recommendations with altruistic and philanthropic intentions as well as for “social engineering” purpose will be welcomed by any and all reasonable and thoughtful people. Arbitrary imposition of numbers for reservation and quotas on all educational institutions and private employers without regard to any logic or evidence based results of past social and educational experimentation in this area of social reform, however, would lead to questioning the motivation of the politicians. Even the most developed older democracies of the world have their large sections of society that are not privileged to partake in higher education, not because of caste or class, and not even because of economic background. Some democracies are well endowed to provide free education and/or generous scholarships to their meritorious underprivileged students. Yet, not all are either equipped with prerequisites or are motivated to learn. Uneducated and/or undereducated sections within the society do not necessarily reflect discrimination of the minority by the majority. It must be clarified that this fact alone is not a justification for deliberate discrimination and deprivation of educational opportunity for low income meritorious students on any basis, caste, creed, color, or socioeconomic background. OPPORTUNITIES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION SHOULD BE EQUAL FOR ALL. However, while these opportunities must be made available to all deserving students on the primary basis of merit, some concessions and allowances need to be made for the underprivileged by lowering the admission standards to facilitate their entry. That is, certain admission standards of most educational institutions understandably need to be lowered for those underprivileged students who show promise, but in whose case if it can be determined that they may have earned somewhat lower marks due to their social and economic circumstances. Sincere efforts must be directed to focus on minimizing, and if possible, eliminating cheating and fraud in the educational testing systems to ensure that merit is authentic, if all admissions to higher education are merit-based. There will need to be monitoring system in place to ensure compliance with regulations ensuring non-discrimination and affirmative action in the educational system. Those who need scholarships based on their lower economic status would best be served by providing financial assistance or educational loans that could be written off, if their performance and achievement meet certain expectations. And, even then, such concessions must be contingent upon sustained satisfactory performance in their studies, e.g., minimum level of performance must be maintained for a set number of consecutive terms in order to qualify for the waivers. In this manner the deserving students of the minority class can be better served to bring about the social reform. Such policies for social reform implementing affirmative action in higher education to raise the educational levels of the underprivileged are laudable and all political parties will welcome and endorse such policies. One of the goals of education is also to foster broad-mindedness to maintain harmony and cohesiveness within the society at large. Unfortunately, the self-serving interests of some political parties and their alliances to appease the vote-banks will only further divide and fragment the already fragmented society. The transparent motivation for such short-sighted and self-serving reform is to create an increasingly manipulative spiral trend wherein the underlying intentions of any future policy will be more heavily weighted on how it will keep the party in power rather than how it will inherently help the society as a whole. Therefore, over time the political party in power desiring to sustain this authority, will exploit the current inequality in the educational status of the minorities for its political gains, implementing such policy designed purely to consolidate and maintain its position of control. As such these power politics motivated exploitations of all kinds of rifts in the society based on castes or other identities are not new tactics in politics. Unless all Bharateeyas wake up and view themselves as ONE FAMILY, such tactics of ripping apart India more than what the colonial rulers and missionaries have done over the centuries by coming into the country and instigating hostilities between different castes and social classes will be perpetrated unchecked. If united to gain political power, the majority in India will become truly independent at last after thousand years. Ultimately and in the long-term, social progress will be stunted or even halted by ill designed social reform of reservation and quotas which in reality is calculated to create more rift between the minority and majority than there ever existed. Any social reform whether affirmative action or social welfare projects must lead to social progress that is allowed to grow into an increasingly beneficial and self-sustaining feature of India’s further growth as a world power. Any social reform that further divides and weakens the very fabric of Indian society is inimical to the progress of Bharat. The best way to eliminate inequality is to create an even playing field. One possible way to do this is by stressing the implementation of policies to ensure free and easy access to elementary and secondary education and high quality academic experience to all children. Such college preparatory education needs to be made available to all children. The bell-curve will again show that, given the basic opportunities, within all classes, (poor and backward as well as the rich and privileged), will be found a few students in the extremely high achieving range who will merit admission to institutions of higher learning. There are many “Institutions of Excellence” competing in the world educational industry that may be best left alone to select only the best but required to be non-discriminating. Some professions allow only a very narrow margin of error in their work. For example, neurosurgeons and ophthalmologists or nuclear physicists, higher level Information Technologists and experts in artificial intelligence, etc., are not to be chosen on the basis of their castes. As these prerequisite policies to uplift all lower socioeconomic class children to qualify them for higher education are put in place, fair and just policies addressing admission requirements to higher educational institutions of excellence should be effected concurrently to retain their pride of place in the country and also internationally. These private institutions of higher education need to be given free reign to select the best candidates and compete at the international level. Private industrialists, entrepreneurs and technocrats will thus have an incentive to fund and finance their own educational institutions that do not depend on the Central government financing and yet excel. These institutions could feed their own enterprises while they select their students purely on merit without any discrimination. If the burden of bureaucracy becomes excessive they may set up their institutions outside the country. The economically disadvantaged must be given free tuition and scholarships. The admissions to the universities and higher education need to be merit based and should present as equal-opportunity for the rich and for the poor, the majority and the minority. Significant allowances may be made to redress the injustices of the past for the meritorious students of the disadvantaged classes. Examples would be arranging free room and board, pocket money, books and journals, special tutoring and instructions to bridge the gap with the advantaged students, etc. and not merely giving OBC students an admission to a college. However, let it be stressed that the principal intent behind any and all educational policies should be for the good of the students, themselves, and for the progress of Indian society, as a whole. And, above all, at no time should India’s youth be used as a political weapon wielded by the parties to further their vote-bank agenda. Good democracies help facilitate the evolution and progress of societies, and do not instigate revolutions. If care is not taken to ensure that educational structure, and policy-making, benefit the student first, and not the political party’s ability to sustain its position of power, then India could very well be faced with a slow but powerful transition from “the world’s largest democracy” to a state of despotism disguised as a democracy. The allotment of a significantly large number of seats to less than meritorious minority students by reservation, especially if it is at the expense of other well-deserving students, will not result in directly proportional and significant increases in the number of highly educated intellectuals or professionals in the underprivileged classes. Neither do social promotions and the offering of phony degrees lead to a better educated or highly technically skilled population that is prepared and ready to compete in the global market. Rather, another possible solution that should be considered is for the government of India to first empower the minorities to start special universities and institutes of higher learning for their students. This enables educators and policy makers to better monitor and evaluate the progress and performance of these segments of the student population in comparison to the national standards before inundating the present classrooms filled by meritorious students with low achieving minority students. In all fairness such minority sponsored educational institutions will then be required to enroll a sizeable section of “majority” students in their student bodies on merit basis, if India is viewed as one family that is truly secular. India is on a winning path, gaining increasing respect as a world presence. The reckless policies in the educational domain, with hidden political agenda secretly embedded throughout, will sabotage India’s progress in the world market. From this point of view, the reservation policy and the quota system in higher education is a prescription for failure, both in the economic domain and in the domain of social reform. Besides, the rifts created by such policies will be capitalized upon by the political parties endorsing such reform for corrupt gains in the ensuing elections, and will simultaneously be sacrificing the futures of a large number of bright and deserving, hard working, meritorious students who will unnecessarily harbor bitterness in their hearts. However, it must be strongly stressed that violence and revolution are not viable or even acceptable answers. Self-immolation, suicides, etc., are not constructive solutions. Eccentric fanatic speeches and weird or violent comments on the web-sites for free _expression of hostilities directed at the majority or the minority are only indications of social immaturity, besides discrediting the web-site of “Youth for Equality.” Political dialogue, debates, facilitation of widespread awareness of the issues, and the bringing about of changes in the voting patterns: these are more adaptive democratic strategies. As regards the advocacy for the undeserving non-meritorious students of the underprivileged class, the political parties will probably gain some votes, but, this will lead to not much else as far as the betterment of the society. Instead of educationists advising the politicians regarding educational policies, it seems that the politicians are advising the educationists. This trend, if it continues, will eventually irreversibly and irreparably weaken our nation’s economy. The caring and concerned, compassionate, youth is emerging to begin a "Bharat Abhyudaya Yajnya” in a typical Bahrateeya peaceful manner on a national scale, viewing it not as a “kranti” but rather as an “utkranti,” with heartfelt love for the poor and the downtrodden. Good education for all deserving Bharateeyas should be the primary objective to be accomplished through this Yajnya. II Vande Mataram II

India unravelling

An article written by an academic

India unravelling

Dr. Gautam Sen,

Writer and former academic London School of Economics & Political Science.

Secularists and communists may imagine they somehow control India’s future, but this belief is a chimera. Perhaps they are smart enough to know the truth, but too cynical to care. India is spinning out of control and the spoils of political office are likely to evaporate suddenly. How exactly this will come about is not entirely clear, but there are historical precedents that provide pointers.

The decisive antecedent pre-condition is the inability of the ruling order to retain domestic control and ward off external predators militarily. This is how Mogul primacy ended for India in devastating chaos during the eighteenth century, after the grand rewards of imperial conquest. But such a grim scenario is inevitably preceded by a collapse of political authority and the credibility of the ruling order. India is now in this perilous phase as the public standing of its ruling order ebbs. There is now real prospect of accident and design unfolding in combination to disable state power and curtail its political reach significantly.

Various regional political factions across India are engaged in savage competition for the spoils of office. Very little else motivates their endeavours except corrupt enrichment, chicanery and criminality to seize power, however temporarily, and crass bribery to hold on to it, no matter how briefly. After each abysmal episode the ruling groups, barely distinguishable from each other, emerge shamelessly enriched. What these regional political parties also share with each other, beyond the desire for rule by themselves and their families, is a singular lack of any conception of India’s nationhood. Yet they are a critical influence on policy at the federal Centre and vying for the ultimate crown of dominating national government itself.

The Congress party in power at the federal Centre today is remarkably similar to the regional political parties seeking to replace it. In fact, they run the country jointly as partners in crime. The nominally national Congress only differs from them in the inconsequential detail of having its constituents less geographically concentrated than the largely regional political parties, be it the malevolent communists, the unspeakable celluloid Tamil monstrosities or indeed the cartoon strip nationalists of the Hindu fold. Shorn of pomp and symbolic pretensions, the name of the game in New Delhi for the incumbent ruling combine is to create the conditions for Rahul Gandhi’s anointment as the next celestial authority in India. The second preoccupation is to manage foreign affairs with sufficient sleight-of-hand to stop the national apple cart from being embarrassingly overturned.

It is possible that India’s diabolical international predicament will not turn into immediate rout and Rahul Gandhi may claim his rightful place in India’s embryonic monarchy. The prime minister himself may not be interested in cash or sexual conquest, but he suffers terribly from the third affliction of humanity, which is to be in the public eye. This is the equivalent of the fifteen minutes of sordid fame that the country is paying for so very dearly. He wields no political power and a sort of Page Three fame apparently suffices. In the pursuit of such dishonourable ambitions, the meaning of secularism been twisted beyond recognition. A supine media connives, eager for crumbs from the table of the ruling family and its shameless minions. However, neither India’s faltering durability, for the present, nor the new Sun King’s impending accession are likely to stop the rot as far as its long-term future is concerned.

The indefensible OBC reservations that do nothing for the many underprivileged of India, and inflict grievous injury on many who are also underprivileged, but capable, will be remembered as the critical moment when India’s endgame began.

It is a tragic final denouement for India’s future as a polity and economy when the only persevering social structure was delivered a mortal blow. In a country in which few things work properly (from domestic plug points to road lights, to pick two things randomly) and virtually nothing in the public sector functions effectively the resilient Indian family’s deepest aspiration has just been criminally decapitated. The ruling elites cannot provide adequate electricity at any price nor an airport in the national capital that does not fill one with despair, nor schools that have toilets or even teachers. Yet they allegedly occupy the moral high ground and spew arrant nonsense about secularism and communal harmony.

Despite its many faults, the Indian family alone has overcome the formidable obstacles placed in its path by a dysfunctional State and vicious ruling order to educate their children. Modest middle and lower middle class family incomes and awe-inspiring parental efforts, often against overwhelming odds, have lovingly nurtured human capital and turned around an economy with dim prospects. Even a driver on five-thousand rupees a month is prepared to send his two little girls to a school that teaches only in English by allocating a fifth of his monthly income. If there were no goddess of learning she would have to be contrived and imagined in gratitude, for infusing such a noble thirst for learning in ordinary Indians. This is why the possibilities of applied science are infinite like the skies above our bowed human heads.

The grotesque policy of swingeing reservations that does nothing for the majority, which does not receive basic schooling, can only have been undertaken by people of very low intelligence. But these are the same people whose village cunning led to the office-for-profit debacle that continues to haunt their very own hold on political power. The insane reservation policy, based on rank political opportunism and illiterate conjecture, will trigger socio-economic mechanisms that may well kill the goose currently laying golden eggs despite the brigandage under the garb of socialism and humanity. Such a policy measure is also likely to provoke dangerous disaffection among the many that cannot escape to foreign universities, unlike the children of politicians, who themselves go abroad for medical care too. A hard look at the origins of the brutal civil war in Sri Lanka is a salutary reminder of how one reaps as ye sows when a sense of injustice burns in the hearts of those who understand it and have the wherewithal to respond.

A vast swathe of Indian citizens has been effectively disenfranchised and no longer owes any loyalty to the Indian State and its overseers. A fundamental right of paramount importance has been taken away from them. The right to education and the recognition of fair criteria, which must mean that merit remains pre-eminent, has been erased. The rightness of reservations at the margin has been replaced by complete marginalisation of merit. No matter what social class and economic circumstances, the accident of birth will deny the children of many of the poor their basic rights on grounds of Caste alone. Such a policy echoes the exclusion of Jews from German higher education in the mid-1930s merely because of their religious identity. Why should these young people feel any commitment to a society that has in unison, across the political spectrum, declared outright war on them?

For a start, they would be justified in refusing to join the armed forces since those being granted extraordinary unmerited privileges should now defend the country they are vindictively making exclusively their own. Nor should any of the excluded Castes join the police or indeed the bureaucracy. In this free for all dog eats dog world that their fellow citizens and their venal representatives are determined to bring about, something will give. In all likelihood economic growth will falter and India’s defence will be in the supposedly competent hands of affirmative action candidates alone, including the so-called minorities, already imperiously demanding special privileges, eager to displace all semblance of fair play. Which foreign predator will soon find irresistible the prospect of re-uniting with their co-religionists and an army of the reserved ready for monotheism, free of the burdens of Caste?

Such demands for reservations have an old history, from government jobs for

Muslims in late nineteenth century Bengal to separate electorates, followed by partition itself. The young and talented of all Castes should begin a long march towards any Indian state that promises them elementary justice in exchange for their prodigious intellectual skills and the economic success that will cascade as a result of it. They will also have the last laugh when the children of politicians in the forefront of casteism are displaced themselves by those for whom nothing but reservation matters. Their India will surely prosper without the presence of so-called upper Caste oppressors, some cleaning public toilets in Delhi while harassing rich OBC ministers and successful entrepreneurs part-time. The resulting weakened federal India may eventually find its individual parts going their separate ways. Those who strive primarily on the basis of merit need have no inclination to pay taxes to the rest of the country, denying their basic human rights simply because of their Caste.

OBCs should throw away the demeaning crutches offered

An article written by Prof M S Gopinathan

OBCs should throw away the demeaning crutches offered

June 09, 2006

I am by brand an 'Other Backward Class'. I did my PhD at an IIT and taught at another IIT for 27 years before retiring. It is to the credit of the IIT system that it never asked me my caste brand, neither when I entered as a student or faculty nor when I was promoted. It is sad that these things are going to change. It may not be irrelevant to note that they didn't ask my caste or religion at Oxford University in the UK, McGill University in Canada or the German Universities where I went to work.

If you are socially disadvantaged, you must strive to overcome that disadvantage and the only way to do that is to educate yourself and your children. Ask for good schools, good teachers and scholarships. If you opt for charity and crutches, you will always remain for generations to come, a receiver of charity limping on borrowed crutches. Charity demeans both the giver and the receiver.

I was born to poor, virtually illiterate parents in a remote village. But I was lucky to have a great science teacher in our village school who excited me about science; not just to learn textbook science, but to do experiments after school hours and on holidays and to do Socratic debates about science with him. Whatever modest success I have had in my professional scientific career, I can trace to such early fortunate circumstances and influences.

If you haven't had proper schooling and if you are just airlifted into an IIT by virtue of your scheduled or backward caste, you will be a miserable misfit in the intellectually and socially elite IIT atmosphere. You cannot cope with the courses; you cannot speak the campus lingo. You feel ostracized, intellectually and socially. I am saying this based on my decades of long experience with such students at IIT. Even after special coaching for a year at IIT and being exempted from the dreaded Entrance Examination, the SC/ST reserved students cannot perform. Often they require further academic concessions, albeit unethical, to barely pass the courses. It helps nobody, least of all them. I do not know what happens to them in their post-IIT life; some commission should study it. But I doubt whether many second generation SC/ST IITians make it to the IIT directly through the JEE.

It takes enormous, dedicated, and sincere effort for decades on the part of the government if quality universal school education is to be provided to all, as decreed by the Constitution and as Independent India has miserably failed to deliver in over 50 years. But it is far easier to shortchange and hoodwink the SC/STs and OBCs by making a legislative flourish of the pen offering useless, humiliating backdoor entry to them in the Institutes of higher learning. This political gimmick even distorts the meaning of 'higher' learning.

Even the sanctioned SC/ST quota in IITs today goes unfilled to a large extent (50 per cent?).

IITs cannot attract quality faculty (current vacancy is probably 20 per cent or more). Imagine the scenario when 49 per cent admission is reserved on the basis of caste and not on the basis of the academic potential of the students. IITs will be shunned as Paraya or Backward Class Institutes by serious academicians of all castes and by the international academic community.

The brand IIT has been created through about 50 years of dedicated, serious academic work of world quality by the faculty and students. Such institutes cannot be created overnight by legislative actions like opening a new IIT in a remote but politically correct location or just by renaming as IIT an existing university with its century-old caste and nonacademic baggage.

Oxford colleges are famous for their meticulous lawns. When asked by a visiting American student how you make such a lawn, the Oxford gardener replied: 'It is easy. You just regularly mow it, weed and water it. Do that for seven hundred years. Then you get a lawn like this.' What is true for the Oxford lawn is true for its academic excellence too.

So what should the OBC students, for whom the politician's heart has suddenly started bleeding, do? They should join the anti-reservation agitation and agitate for decent schools, good teachers and scholarships and refuse to be taken for an easy ride by the vote seekers. They should maintain their dignity and refuse the segregating ignominy of backdoor entries into institutions of higher learning. They should ask for better training, better running shoes, better coaches and show that they too can race with the others.

They should throw away the demeaning crutches offered.

I know this will not come to pass. The IIT campuses will be made 50-50, 50 backward and 50 forward, splitting it in the middle along the caste divide, the handicapped and the non-handicapped crowding, jostling on the same race track, nobody going anywhere.

If segregation is a legislative imperative, I suggest that it is better to have it on different campuses, rather than on the same campus. That is a win-win, 100-100 reservation situation. The SC/ST, OBC, BC and FC all having their own IITs with 100 per cent reservation, not only for students, but for faculty and staff too (why stop at students?). Maybe we could thus have healthy academic caste wars. Each group on its own racetrack.

Another possible win-win scenario for all comes from the use of high tech IT, satellite communication etc in which India is strong. We could close down all existing caste-ridden IITs and replace them with a single secular, egalitarian, virtual IIT. Virtually any number from any caste can enroll and have the same professor lecture to thousands over the high tech wires. It ensures a level playing field for all up in the sky.

Swami Vivekananda was shocked by the horrendous caste divisions in Kerala and called it a mad house. We now have a whole mad nation!

Caste -- forward, backward or scheduled -- is a shame of our country. It is an indelible indignity that brands an Indian for life at the moment of his birth. The higher castes may flaunt their caste through caste markings and last names and the lower ones may try to hide it except when it can be cashed in for favours like admissions, concessions or jobs. Egalitarian pretensions notwithstanding, caste has become an organizing principle of modern Indian society. It determines who will marry whom, who will eat with whom, who will touch whom, who will vote for whom and of late who will get into IIT!