When does it stop ?

Oct 8, 2009 : Seventeen policemen killed in an ambush by Maoists at Laheri police station in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. 
Sep 30: Naxalites set ablaze Gram Panchayat offices at Korchi and Belgaon in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
Sep 26: Naxals kill BJP MP from Balaghat Baliram Kashyap’s sons at Pairaguda village in Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh).
Sep 4: Naxals kill four villagers in a forest in Aaded village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.

and am sure, i can find tens and hundreds  of such Naxal attacks in the past year or so. Infact, it’s now become an Indian reality. Just like, the price rise, the corruption, the terrorism issues, naxalism has become a tragic reality.

Why is that our own people picked up arms against our own people  and now , now the government , again our own people are using arms against the naxals , again our own people ? 

Why ? Does the government really have no other option , do the naxalites have no other option but to pick up arms. If each one of them starts killing each other, no doubt casualties will include people on either side, but no doubt, casualties will also include kids, women, innocent men and women, because the arms  DONT discriminate.  So what’s so complicated that it can’t be discussed. Oh I remember, the government won’t have discussions with the Naxals unless they lay down their arms. They won’t negotiate with anti social elements, blah.. blah.. blah ..and the usual BS.

And why can’t the Naxals lay down their arms and come to the discussions. After all the naxals claim to be fighting for the rights of the common man and for this they have sacrificed everything and picked up the arms. Now for the sake of the same common man, can they not, lay down their arms and come to the discussions.

Now if either side won’t budge ,  the only way this fight will end is when one side is eliminated.

Do we want to go to this extreme ? Can the more sensible one not compromise and get the two sides to the table for some meaningful dialogue and discussions. And who is the more sensible or rather who should be the most sensible. The Government. So why can’t the government ask the Naxals to come to the discussions with out any pre-conditions and try and put an end to this meaning less killings of innocent people.   

The more isolated the Naxals the get from the society, the more dangerous they become to the society. 

I’m no expert on this subject matter. May be it’s not that easy, but it should not be that difficult either, especially when you see innocent people getting killed day in and day out. And infact the people who get killed in these situations are very fortunate, those who are left behind , are left behind to wait till they die. And these people will either sincerely wait for their death or pick up the arms and fight back .. So when does it stop …. ? Just when ???

The little giant called “Tendulkar”

From the first time when he walked into the cricket ground to play for India during the pakistan tour of 1989 – 90 as a 16 year old ; till the recent “Ind Vs Aus” when he scored 175 of 144 balls as a 36 year old , Tendulkar plays with one passion and only one passion i.e. the passion to play for India. He gets excited like a kid playing cricket for the first time.

To me , Tendulkar is not just about cricket. To me, Tendulkar is about his passion to play for India, Tendulkar is about discipline, his commitment, his love for the game, his modesty, his sincerity, his humbleness, his eagerness to learn , his willingness to experiment. To me he is beyond cricket.

I’m not saying he is a super hero with everything coming his way. He is talented no doubt, but talent only takes one so far and Tendulkar is no exception. He worked hard at his game, worked hard to improve his concentration, worked hard at his fitness and never took anything for granted. 

Having done so much for the country, brining so many laurels to the country, inspiring so many youngsters to belief in oneself and motivate them to work hard to achieve their goals, he still had to face criticisims of various kids, so much so that his home crowd boo’ed him. He once said, “Every stone thrown at him, he wanted to convert them to milestones”. This to me, was the mark of someone more than just the ordinary. All through his career, he played without a blemish. He is a human being par excellence.  

To me, he is beyond cricket.  And I only wish he will be remembered not just for his cricket, but also for being such a great inspiration and for being such a simple human being.

 

So what’s in it for me ???

The AP government completed 100 days in office.  While 100 days is not in any way meant to gauge the government, but at least would help give an indication of the initial tone and direction set by the government. The congress manifesto which was voted to power in 2009 had continued with some of the previously more succesful programs such as Araygoyasri, Indiramma etc and has also added a whole bunch of ambitious programs. It has also spent some huge sums of money in it’s previous term and also set aside huge crores for this term for some of the programs. While the government should be appreciated in coming up some very good proposals and programs, it needs to be seen how much of it will get done.

As we have seen quite often in the past, the government policies, programs and proposals are exteremly good on paper, but when it comes to implement them, most of the governments fail. So the onus is on you and me to make sure the policies are implemented , or if they are not impemented, we must atleast try and ensure that the money that was meant for these programs is not misused. 

• The continuation of welfare programmes such as INDIRAMMA , JALAYAGNAM, ARAYGOYASRI.
• Extend the 2 Rupees a kg rice scheme by giving 5 kgs instead of 3kgs to White Ration Card holders.
• The Weajer Section Housing Program
• The Land Distribution Scheme
• Complete reimbursement of tuition fee scheme.
• Weavers and the Tappers package.
• 4% reservation for Muslim minorities.
• The Kalyanamasthu programme.
• Paval Vaddi scheme.
• Dhobhi ghats with all modern facilities will be provided for all the localities to reduce the drudgery of washing and ironing.
• Encourage BC rural artisans like Goldsmiths, blacksmiths, Carpenters, Weavers, Tappers, Washermen etc to form into
• SHG’s for purchase of tools for commons use.
• Special initiaitives will be taken to step up literacy rate among the SC, ST girls.
• Overhauling of the State health care administration.
• Double the Capicity of power in the next five years.
• State to provide 9 hours per day to the farm sector from 1st June 2009.
• Every household to have a gas connection at the end of the fourth year.
• Every household to have an electrical connection and a sanitary tiolet at the end of the 5 year term.
• Cover all citizens with Biometric Identity Cards.
• Implementing the forest land rights act.
• Cooperative Movement: Select one or two villages for every Mandal in the State for the  Cooperative Momvement.
• Launch Mobile Agri and Livestock Clinics with consultation facilities on the lines of 108 and 104 for providing ready service to the farmers at their doorstep on matters like soil testing,  agricultural practices, animal health care, artificial insemination.
• All SC, ST, BC and Minority residential schools across the State wll be elevated to the standards
  of Navodaya schools by improving the infrastructure and number of teachers.
• University in every district.

I plan to soon start knocking on the doors of the administration and the government departments to seek answers and status updates on some if not all of the above.  It’s not going to be easy and i’m not even sure if it’s possible, but would I know it without trying, would I ?  

So what’s in it for me ?

it will be whatever I (We) can ensure

sources for the manifesto:

• http://www.apelections2009.in/2009/03/26/ap-congress-election-manifesto-highlights/
• http://66.28.216.162:8080/apcc/pdf/CongManifSlntPnts2403.pdf
• http://www.andhrarajakeeyam.com/2009/03/ap-congress-releases-manifesto-pledges-regular-power-supply/
• http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ap-congress-manifesto/105816/

 

The perfect entertainment channel

Often over the weekend, i find myself surfing the tv programs constantly.  I can’t watch a single program for more than 5 – 10 minutes as they are not entertaining or interesting or educative .. basically nothing worth watching. It’s a frustrating experience to find something worthwhile to watch.

Then i landed upon the NDTV 24×7 news channel. The news channel had everything packaged into one, there was sports; movies; fashion parades; advertisements; movie trailers; mindless debates and discussions; gossips; so i don’t have to flip any other channel. Every 10 minutes, there is something new. But wait a minute , did i say it was a 24×7 news channel !!!

Yeah, i did say the news channel. It has everything in huge doses, except for the indepth news coverage. The little news that’s shown is mostly on the lines of “Who said What” ; “How one reacted to that”. Ofcourse, the most favorite line up on the news channels are the live coverages of a grave tragedy.  It’s amazing how fast the channel bring’s out it’s subject experts ( no matter what the subject is ) and stage a live analysis of the siutation. Oh and there is one other thing, that the news channel in depth, the celebreties.

for instance:

1. I know who designed the clothes for Aishwarya Rai for her marriage. But i don’t know anything about the arrest of Binayak Sen.
2. I know all the places our Indian cricketers visited when touring New Zealand, but i don’t know anything about the trips the farmers have to make to the government offices to keep their families alive.
3. I know everything about the “Operation Taj”, but i don’t know anything about the “Operation flood relief”.
4. I know everything about the huge elephant structures that Mayawati is building in Uttar Pradesh and i know nothing about the houses that were supposed to be built for the slum dwellers and the displaced.

and I can go on …… the news basically covers everything, but an honest and sincere indepth coverage of the “News that Matters the Most” is what is missing and is missing BIG TIME.

And I also feel the news channel should even be given the “A” rating, as the language spoken or the content shown is not appropriate for kids.  So it’s a perfect Adult Entertaining Channel. It’s not just NDTV, i’m sure there are other channels, but like i said, i just got stuck with NDTV.

 

The GHMC elections

GHMC elections are just around the corner or in other the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation  Elections. So for a total 150 divisions located in five zones and 17 circles, a record number of 2500 candidates are likely to compete.

So why are these elections important or why should I and you be interested in them.

I grew up in a Colony in Sainikpuri and lived there for almost 21 years.  Our colony happens to come under the Defence Colony Ward, which is under the Malkajgiri constituency.  Growing up as a kid, the colony was a save haven for all the kids and most definetly for all the parents as well. The colony boasted of a school that if you get admitted to you can go straight from kindergarden to post graduation. It had one of the greatest temples of the twin cities, the Kalibari temple, which was renound for it’s dusherra and diwali celebrations. It had large playgrounds; it was a bustling neighbhor hood. Still is.

However, there have been changes. Just like any other place in Hyderabad, my colony has also undergone tremendous change.  What used to be large vacant play grounds have been turned into huge apartment complexes.  From being a colony that relied on the borewell for it’s water, now has to rely on the manjeera water supply that is only twice a week. Ofcourse there have been other developments such as nice pucca roads, plenty of general stores, a regular bus line etc etc.

The basic problems of the area still remain. Water scarcity, supply of or lack of supply of electricity especially during the summer, the traffic, the rapid ( illegal ) constructions ( both commercial and residential )  etc etc. Anyways growing up i never much paid much attention to this.  Now I can let the trend continue so that my kids are left with much less water,  even less open play grounds and basically much less resources than I had.

Or, I can do something about it.  I make my concern ; my opinion; my voice heard.  JUST VOTE !!! The “Right to Vote” was not a fundamental right that was given to us by birth, it was fought for and fought for very hard. Our ancestors laid down their lives for this. So if we don’t value their efforts and don’t realize the power in the “Right to Vote”, then I’m afraid my kids will have to do what my ancestors had to do. And certainly I don’t want that to happen.

And since I believe I can do more than VOTING, i want to make campaign and make sure the right candidate gets voted for this job. It doesn’t mean that once the candiated gets voted, he or she will do the job. The onus is on me and YOU to make sure that that gets done.

the GHMC elections are the elections that would define the present and the future of my neighbhorhood and your neighbhorhood.

AP flood relief updates

Clothes have been donated in abundance and also the teams working @ the ground level have advised not to send any clothes. You can also see the state of clothes distribution in one of the pictures below.
http://picasaweb.google.com/masades/KurnoolFloods

Items that can be shipped from overseas
1. Blankets/ Bed Shirts
2. Cooking Utensils / Plates
3. Shoes
4. Wax Candles
5. Financial Support
   a. To buy chlorine dioxide tablets ( powder) : for water purification.
   b. To buy grains, salt, sugar and other cooking essentials.

 For a complete update on flood affected areas , please click here . The link also has contact information of all the village heads .

The teams that are currently working on the ground level

1) Rakesh/Umesh/Paresh: Bhumi

2) Kiran/Suresh: AID India Hyderabad

3) Suresh: VMRG Foundation

4) Prasanthi – TMAD

5) Sushmita – AMIGOS

6) Pravesh Jha: Lead India 2020

I plan to keep regulary updating this blog posting.

What if farmers went on strike ?

Everybody is going on strike these days. It’s as if this is the “Season for Strikes“.

• The IIT professors.
• The IIM professors.
• The JET airways pilots.
• The Air India pilots.
• The doctor’s.

When the professors go on strike, the students are affected; when the pilots go on strike, the airline commuters get affected; when the doctors go on strike, the patients are affected.  No pain no gain. In this case, the pain is inflicted by those going on the strike and they eventually gain from it.  Instead of negotiating directly with the concerned authorities, it seems it’s fashionable to talk to the media, giving live interviews, calling press conference to gain the much needed publicity and using that to exert pressure. The media, of course loves that. They give all the attention, all the air time and all the publicity.

But there is one section of the society, that despite their continued suffering, despite their continued misery, despite being neglected and isolated, have never let down the people who depend on them. I’m referring to the farmers, the most neglected section of the community.

Imagine what would happen, if the farmers went on strike. If the farmers refuse to work in the fields, if the refuse to bend their backs, imagine what the consequences will be. Ok, may be there won’t be any immediate effect, since the country may have some reserves, but pretty soon the reserves are going to be exhausted. Then what ??

And if you think the farmers won’t resort to strike, because it’s going to affect their livelihood, think again. The farmers wouldn’t mind risking their livelihoods , in fact their lives in the process, because they are already in a state where of affairs which is forcing them to take their own lives and commit suicides.

But the question still remains, would anyone pay attention. Would the media care, would the government care, would the people care ? I think we better. The country is not simply made of the Tendulkar’s, the Ambani’s, the Pilots, the doctors, the engineers, it also is made of the soldiers , the farmers , everybody must get their share of respect and dignity. No one is less important.

So think again, “What if farmers went on strike” ?.

The “extra” Ordinary

We come accross ordinary people who go the extra mile and do some extraordinary things. Once such person is Mr. Ch.Nagaraju.  The other aspect of this person is that he is also visually blind.

In spite of his lack of eyesight, he has not only worked his way to a bachelors degree and ability to support himself, but also has shown leadership skills and independence that we find in very few people.

Due to the lack of a school for the blind in the entire district of Srikakulam, he had to go through a lot of trouble to study in West Godavari district. Having succeeded, he is determined to make the path easier for others in Srikakulam district. Briefly, I am describing a few actions he has taken just in the past few months. They need our support to take the work forward.

Recent activities:
(1) He went out to find other visually handicapped people in Srikakulam, and started a federation for the blind. A couple of months ago, he organized a meet of visually handicapped, involved the media to publicize the event, and was able to gather about 50 people who then became members of the federation. This was the first event in the district organized by the blind themselves.

(2) Instead of depending on charity services, he is fighting to get what is due from the government. They met the Asst Director of handicapped services several times and urged him to start a school for the blind and extend other basic services properly. As they were not satisfied with the pace of response, the group directly met the Collector and gave him a detailed petition with 5 demands. Immediately, there has been movement from different departments to be more cooperative.

For example, it used to take more than 6 months for a person to get a visually-handicapped certificate! Now, with this group’s initiative, it is ready within a week! Much more action is needed from the government of course, and they are constantly doing the rounds of the govt offices.

(3) One immediate aim is to start a school for the blind. The government has said that if there are enough visually handicapped students in the 6-15 age group, they will try to start a school. Nagaraju and his group are now keen on doing field work visiting every Mandal and panchayat and enumerating the blind people with all details.

(4) They have also made connections with similar groups in other districts, including Hyderabad. He was here for 2-3 weeks along with another associate to make connections with the blind people from Srikakulam who are in Hyderabad for various reasons. He has enlisted their help in following up with the Commissioner in Hyd regarding various tasks.

(5) Now, they are on their way to start an office in Srikakulam town, and with a team of 3 visually handicapped (all working voluntarily without pay) and a couple of helpers with eyesight, they plan to visit each Mandal and do extensive fieldwork. They would also like to start off a school themselves in a couple of months, and then pressure the government to make it a government school.

A few good men !!!

Every now and then, the media does something that touches millions of  lives in the most human way. Wish it were done with on a consistent basis. Here is one such works done by rediff.com, a great set of inspirational articles about ordinary invidiuals who are doing something extraordinary in their day to day life.

Extraordinary Indians
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/12/slide-show-1-extraordinary-indians.htm
 
‘If people like us don’t do something for society, who will?’
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/24/slide-show-1-extraordinary-lives-krishna-banerjee.htm

He gave up a 5-star job to feed the mentally ill
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/12/slide-show-1-he-gave-up-a-5-star-job-to-feed-the-mentally-ill.htm
 
He put his life’s savings for a home for prisoner’s children
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/14/slide-show-1-extraordinary-lives-v-mani.htm
 
The manager who does funerals for abandoned bodies
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/26/slide-show-1-extraordinary-indians-s-sreedhar.htm
 
Extraordinary Indians: Doc who charges only Rs 2
http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/aug/17/slide-show-1-extraordinary-indians-ravindra-koelhe.htm

Campaign to support the Anti Corruption Bill

On June 10th 2009, Dr. Jaya Prakash Narayan submitted a draft bill as an amendment to the anti corruption bill, to the chief minister and the speaker of Andhra Pradesh.  Among the several amendments to the bill, one significant amendment was to deem MLAs, MLCs, elected members of panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations as public servants and bring them under the purview of the Corruption Act.

Click here, to read the draft bill.

This amendment was good enough for me to join the campaign which we kicked off with in a week of this proposal.  The campaign itself was aimed at making sure the draft was introduced as a bill in the Andhra Pradesh assembly and then to get the approval of all the members to get it approved as a bill. The campaign involved

1. Calling the MLA’s 
2. An Online Petition
3. Email campaign to sign the petition and educate the internet audience.
4. Calling the Political Parties
5. Write to the Media.
6. Talk to the Media.
7. Get the word out to the common man about the importance of the bill and how their support will help.

The campaign’s first step was the email campaign to reach out to the internet audience and create awareness about the bill and make them sign the petition thereafter. This campaign is one week old and yet we have had only 792 signatures at this point in time. Although the number is disappointing, it is expected. However there have been quite a few concerns/criticisms regarding this campaign.

Here are some readers comments.

Reader #1:”First prevent corruption at top level(more power over people) rather focussing to much at small levels,If the things get to work properly at the top level then people at low level(lesser power) will not become corrupt“

To this i’ve to say, corruption is deep rooted in the society. From students, young adults, to middle aged, to old people, everybody is part of the system. If the kid is not taught about the perils of corruption, he or she may become the person in power tomorrow and  the vicious cycle will follow. So corruption needs to be addressed at all levels and treated with same vigor and intensity. So yes this kind of a campaign is a good way to start such debates and discussions.

Reader #2: “JP should petition it to the authorities you are willing and capable to make a difference which is the biggest challenge right now and i’m Afraid  i can’t think of anyone in the country right now of anyone in the country right now”

To this I’ve to say, that that’s precisely the reason why we are running the campaign. If the Chief Minister were to readily agree and sign the bill, these amendments would have been made a long time back. We elect the leaders to do the job, but if they don’t , then we’ve to make sure that they do their job.  Because if we don’t then our leaders have no reason to do either.  

reader #3: “I did delay think hesitate to sign the petetion thinking that this wont make any difference.. .. Y to sign and all that…”

the same reader also said “But when I recollected how RTI was fought for and finally how much useful it was now a days(though its being used in wrong ways by many and for selfish uses)…. its still a very useful act(RTI)”.

But there are many others who simply don’t believe in such campaigns. The fact of the matter is such campaigns don’t directly result in achieving the goal, but generate enough interest/awareness/questions/concerns that make such campaigns hard to ignore by the authorities. It is this pressure that we intend to create through this campaign.

so any suggestions/comments/criticisms….. please keep it coming.