Saturday 28 July 2012

WOMEN ARE NOT SAFE IN INDIA!

Little less than half of the total population of India (1.22 crore)-Women- are passing from shocking phases! Crime against the women in the forms of rape,dowry  killings, abduction, Khap and caste panchayats dictum to women, honour killings, harassment at work places, molestation, human trafficking, incidences of crime against female children, tortures etc, have practically made the life of women horrible in the whole of India. Gender bias is gradually is eating into the vitals of the country.All these incidents against women have exposed the lackadaisical manner in which these crimes are taken up by the authorities throughout the country. Such incidents give us the views on the so called globalised India's economic reforms since 1992. Crime against women  have escalated as per figures of complaints received with National Women Commission (NWC). Against the 122 complaints to the NWC in 1992,  coinciding the beginning of economic reforms, the complaint petitions to NWC have gone up to 13,190 in 2008.With regards to much-publicised equal partnership of women of all classes  in the governance and administration as well as fifty percent reservation to women in the Parliament and state assemblies are also hanging fire for the last several years, thanks to the gender bias attitude of male-dominated political class in the country. In respect of atrocity on women, India is even surpassing the records of Islamic countries' restrictions on women,, wave of violence including killings of women in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico and UN intervenes (My blog-Wave of Violence Swallows Women In Ciudad Juarez In Mexico ). In  China women are being forced to abort (My blog:Women of The Globe Becoming Most Vulnerable).
Besides many incidents of atrocity on women, the recent one in Assam that a 17-year-old girl was molested by about two dozen  men outside a pub in Guwahati''s main shopping area for 30 minutes on July 09, 2012  in full view of the public has shocked the nation.Such heinous crime reflects that there are no law and order and the constitutional provisions prevail in the country. Strangely in the hub of areas, police came after half an hour.It is said that the reporter and camera crewmen of a  local news channel of Rinki Bhuyan Sharma, wife of the health minister Himanta Biswa Sharma in Tarun Gogai government had incited the mob to target the girl. The statement of the Assam Director General of Police J N Chaudhary that the police could not be expected ATMs over the incident has also surprised the people.
Not only that, the role of the NWC, which had sent a two-member fact-finding team to Guwahati, led by the novice former youth Congress leader of Delhi , Alka Lamba has also created piquant situation. The team members, specially Alka Lamba had disclosed the name of victim girl, which is strictly prohibited in practise. More over, Lamba narrated  all these things before filing  any report to the chairperson in charge of the commission Mamta Sharma. Interestingly, the post of chairperson is vacant for over six months  and the union government instead of appointing chairperson of the commission has made Mamta Sharma  , who is a former MLA of Rajasthan, as acting chairperson of the commission. Later Mamta on behalf of the commission apologised for revealing the name of teen-aged victim girl..
The commission, which has assumed pro-active role  over the last one decades in term of conducting several facts findings and enquiry committees against violence against women, is a statutory body ,set up two decades ago to strengthen the legal apparatus to protect women. But the commission has failed to perform its core functions to protest the women. Even its chairperson In charge Mamta Sharma has been criticised for suggesting women should dress carefully . Later she, denied making that statement. Under the circumstances, many suggested disbanding of the commission. Instead many suggested to strengthening  existing  laws to stop atrocity against women throughout the country.
 Highlighting the enquiry into murder of Sister Valsa John in November last year in Pakur district in Jharkhand, allegedly by the mining mafia, a fortnightly has reported ," encountered with a senior police officer, who said, in connection with the rape of a tribal women, who was an associate of the nun and perhaps a witness to the murder, that police frequently did not register first information report in such cases. Worse, he said that rape was common among tribal people. the commission took an adverse view of the officer's comments and recommended that its observation be entered in the confidential service reports." But Jharkhand government led by BJP's Arjun Munda is yet to take any measures on this score.
.The way entire thing happened in Assam has become a blot on the face of eastern states' cities like -Guwahati. As per Crime Records Bureau figures, Assam has witnessed 11,503 crime against women-domestic violence-5,745, abduction-2998 and rape-2,011.A young Congress MLA Rumi Nath of Assam  Assembly was assaulted by a mob in June 2012  in full public view only because she had married second time with her government appointed assistant . Another glaring instance has been reported from Gujarat where a woman member of Parliament from Dahod was mercilessly beaten up for raising her voice against police atrocity. Any was this is fiefdom of Narendra Modi, who does the things on his own whims!
According to the latest figures of the Crime Record Bureau (CRB), which is keeping a record of all crimes committed in India including those against women and children since 1953,, released in June 2012 has disclosed that crime rates of all kinds have increased sharply , particularly against women and children in India. There have been 7.1 percent rise of crime against women from the year 2010. In 2011 alone, as many as 2,28, 650 cases of crime against women had been registered in India. Of these numbers of crime, rape cases alone have 24,206, an increase of 9.2 percent from 2010..Maximum number of  crimes against women have been reported from Triupura-37 percent, Assam-36.9 percent and Kerala-33.8 percent, Andhra Paredesh-33.4 percent, West Bengal-31.9 percent. Thanks to the efforts of Nagaland government, the state has lowest crime rate against women-1.9 percent. Only 38 cases have been reported in Nagaland.

Khaps and caste panchayats in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and a few parts of Punjab have different stories of atrocity on women. Recently a caste Panchayat in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh has declared a "farman" that the movement of women, specially young girl must be restricted within the village and also banned the use of mobile phones by them.. Surprisingly a highly educated MP from the areas Jayant Chadhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal justified the dictum. It may be recalled that this district is represented by union minister Ajit Singh. Many of the political class demanded amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to ban marriages in same gotra.
Women are also forced to die in the name of honour killing in India. The Prevention of Crime in Name of Honour and Tradition Bill-2010, prepared by Law Commission is still pending with the union government for enactment in the Parliament besides a host of bills, proposing several amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Penal code (IPSC) for widening the ambit of the Acts relating to rapes and other atrocity on women  are languishing. However, the Parliament has passed a bill-Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Bill, raising the the age of consent from 16 to 18 has been enacted but many such bills to give equal right to women as well as protection against atrocity are  still languishing. Although the Supreme Court had issued a guidelines against sexual harassment of women at their work place, the government is yet to enact the Bill- the Protection of Women Against Sexual harassment  at Workplace bill, 2010.. Because of such lethargic attitude of  union government and different state governments, crime against women, filed under IPC and SLL, have gone up by 7.1 percent over 2010 and 23.4 percent over 2007. Economically advanced states are recording high rate of crime against women in comparison to poor states  in the country.
Sharp increase of crime against women have been reported from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Rise in rape cases is monumental in Madhya Pradesh, accounting for 14.1 percent of the total cases. In all India context, rape on girls under 14 constituted 10.6 percent of the victims and 19 percent are teen-aged girls between 14 to 18 years. Major victims, 54.7 percent are women in the age group of 18-30 years.At least 141 victims of rape are over 50 percent years Kidnapping  and abduction cases of of women  and girls are highest of 19.4 percent in Uttar Pradesh ..Dowry death figures are also increasing by leaps and bound in 2011 and of which major numbers are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.Torture case by cruelty of husband s have also increased by five percent-West Bengal has reported highest number of such cases in 2011.. Incidents of molestation have also considerably risen- by 5.8 percent and Madhya Pradesh again has topped in such crime. Importation of girls have jumped by 122 percent-Madhya Pradesh has topped in this nefarious game followed by Bihar and Karnataka. Crimes under dowry prohibition have also increased by 27.7 percent While Andhra is at the top of the list, Karnataka comes in second ranking..Odisha leads in dowry  killings-26.4 percent. In witchcraft killing  Karnataka- has registered 32.1 rise. Dowry deaths have risen considerably-up by 25.8 percent over 2001. In 2011 Uttar Pradesh has registered highest number of cases while Bihar came second in dowry related deaths in the country.
Last but not the least abnormally low sex-ration has made the situation worse in the country, resulting into all kinds of crime against a women in the country. But killings of girl child in womb have become common in the country. The Preconception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act is not being implemented strictly and also because of weak provisions in the Act, Out of 1165 cases filed across the country,  only conviction have been awarded  in 102 cases.No stringent law has been framed in this regards,.Under such tardy manner almost all cases crime against women are being handled by the successive governments.Most vulnerable is dalit and adivasi women in the country. Comprehensive law to deal against crimes on women are the need of the hour!
SOURCES: NCRB, Parliament and government Websites, NCWI websites,Assam and Jharkhand governments Websites, Women Organisations' Websites, Achieves of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, Weekly-The Week, Fortnightly-The Frontline.

Tuesday 24 July 2012

DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD: RECENT CONTROVERSY OVER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN INDIA!

No doubt democratic system of government is considered best form of government in the globe. Al least, even minority population has taste of power in the system-they rule their respective countries on the basis of majority share of votes-even less than stipulated qualified  electorate get opportunity to exercise their franchise, Nowhere in the world countries hundred percent qualified electorate exercise their franchise. Even in the United States of America, vote percentage during elections  remains  terrible low. In India it is by land large 50 to 60 percent exercise of franchise ! Therefore the democratic system of governments throughout the world are called the government of minority of people in the respective countries-that is so in India also! But there must be safeguards to implement democratic system in true spirit-it should be matter of debate discussions throughout the Planet.But the system has many loopholes and demerits because present system lacks safeguard throughout the world where the democratic system prevail. But the system gives adequate opportunity to the people to speak about the government openly because of freedom of expression and also by misusings their rights and duties towards the respective Constitutions of the countries in the globe!
In the background of the recent elections of the President of India, many controversial things have come to the surface. Supporters and political class of the two respective contestants-Pranab Kumar Mukheerjee and Puran S Sangma have utilised their lungs power to malign both the contenders to their hilt.
 Amid all these mud-slinging Congress -supported UPA candidate Pranab Kumar Mukherjee won the race by defeating Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) -supported P A Sangma by the huge margins of votes of the electoral college, formed under the basis of the Indian constitutional provisions. But the controversy is yet to die down. Under Indian Constitution, the President is supposed to be custodian of the Constitution as titular head of the country. Mukherjee's  road to magnificent Raisana hill, residential-cum-official residence called Rashtrapati Bhawan, constructed by British Raj has been cleared and now apart from best luxury and life style in the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Mukherjee will be entitled to use luxariest life-styles materials including one of the best luxury car-Mercedes Benz S600 (W221), Pullman guard crafted in Stuttgart, German, which is said to be the epitome of luxury. Thus from travelling in Ambassador Car, manufactured in Uttarapara in West Bengal during his tenure as minister in the Union government to the Mercedes Benz, epitome of luxary. Also from a mud house in a  small village of Birbhum district in West Bengal, Pranab Kumar Kumar Mukherjee alias Paltu, will enter the best and luxuariest place on the earth-Rashtrapati Bhawan as first citizen of India in the next few days after his swearing in sprawling Parliament house to take over the titular post of Rashtrapati of Bharat from the outgoing President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil.
Much firework has been created on the Indian political scenes in the last two months. This is the way in India where lakhs of people die without food, medical  assistance , proper education etc runs under so called democratic system of government.and tax-payers and general public have to bear the burnt of their lively-hood at the cost of the comfort and luxury of President of India and also other class of ruling and opposition elites of the country
In the process of the elections of the President, the credibility of political class has gone down to the drains. Both the candidates for the Presidential fights lack credibility, taking into account their past history of political life.Mukherjee's candidature has drawn much controversy because of his four-decade long political life, his role and priorities in political life.It first started with his controversial  forged signature of  Mukherjee on the resignation letter from holding the post of the Chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute before filing the nomination papers for the election to the post of the President. Non-congress opposition including BJP challenged his nomination paper on the ground of forged signature on resignation letter from the post of profit post  and pressed for its rejection. Sangma, his rival also reiterated that Pranab's nomination must be quashed and even threatened to challenge   Mukherjee's election in the Supreme Court.
Notwithstanding many controversies had been witnessed since the elections Dr Rajendra Prasad as  the first  President of India, the ongoing controversies and stalemate over the candidature of Pranab Kumar Mukherjee has added new dimension of such things in the recently concluded Presidential elections.Various question marks were raised over Pranab's political career, which have captured the attention of media and public.These finger raising questions range between his decisions and actions during the Emergency (1975-77) to his oblique support to an industrial house, which has become a big corporate.
The Shah Commission, constituted by the Janata Party government at the centre to enquire into affairs during emergency of the Prime minister ship of Indira Gandhi, has, in clear term, indicted Pranab for "Cronyism" during emergency and not for cooperating with the commission.Mukherjee's action during emergency has raised doubt over his democratic credentials.The BJP leadership, while opposing his candidature, has alleged that Mukherjee had played active role in cooperating with Indira Gandhi for declaring emergency and also throttle democracy in the country.The Shah commission report , still in the achieves of the Union Government, said, "Although Shri Pranab Mukherjee assisted the commission at the preliminary stage of the fact-finding enquiry, he did not file any statement in the case, as was required to be done under Rule 5(2)(a) of the Commission of Inquiry (Central) Rules 1972. He had responded to the summons u\s 8B of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. But he refused to take oath and tender evidence."
It is said that Pranab refused to depose before the commission on the directive of Indira Gandhi, showing disrespect to the law of the land.The Shah Commission dwelt at length about the "misdeeds" of Mukherjee right from his role in shacking T R Varadacharya as Chairman of the State  Bank of India  (SBI) without noting any reasons and appointing K C Puri as Chairman of the SBI, who was close adviser of Sanjay Gandhi. Pranab also indulged in harassing and targeting people, who were anti-congress during emergency as minister of state revenue under Indira Gandhi prime minister ship.. Pranab was instrumental in raids on the houses of trade union leaders Prabhat Kar,D P Chadha, general secretary and president respectively of the All India Bank employees Association. Pranab's directive as union minister of state revenue in the Indira Gandhi government to arrest Gayatri Devi , former Rajmata of Gwalior, and Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scndia are still exactly remembered in political and administrative circles.Most criticised raids on Bajaj and Mukund groups in May 1976 on the instruction of Pranab are stll considered breach of power by him.Both the groups had openly supported anti-corruption campaign and movement of Sarvodaya of Jay Prakash Narayan , the Shah commission noted and added, "while these raids were being pursued by the ministry of revenue for tax evasion, no action was taken against two women, who were registered as shareholders in Maruti Limited, a Sanjay Gandhi venture, as their addresses could not be verified despite their names being in the defaulters list. Not only that enquiry against Maruti Limited were stopped abruptly during the emergency by Mukherjee,"
More over, after return to power by Indira Gandhi after the fall of Charan Singh government in 1980, Pranab was made Union Finance minister as a reward for his loyalty. Thereafter he shown undue favour to to a particular business house, Differential taxing system was introduced, practically ruining the Bombay Dyeing at the cost of some unknown business houses, which later on became the industry leader in 1980. Surprisingly , while defending UPA-two government when opposition charged it with inaction against the flow of black money recently ,Pranab also tried to justify the controversial raids during emergency for curbing flow of black money outside India.His recent white paper on economy was simply a tokenism, which did not give any estimate of black money.Eminent journalist and researcher Pranjoy Guha Thakurta criticised Pranab and said, "The Finance minister acknowledges that the report was presented to comply with an assurance given in Parliament and that he would have been happy if he could have included the conclusions of reports of three premier institutions that have been tasked to quantify the magnitude of black money reports which are likely to be received by the end the year. The institutions include the National Institute of Public Finance and the policy that prepared a study on the black economy of India in 1985, which suggested that illegal income  generation in India was not less than 18 percent of the country's gross domestic products (GDP). This findings  were criticised by by the economists Suraj B. Gupata and Arun Kumar , both of whom suggested that the proportion was much higher at around 40 percent."
Not only that Team Anna has also launched tirade against Pranab and its one front -ranking leader Arwind Kejariwal has openly called Pranav "a thief" and described that victory of Pranab "shows black chapter of corrupt politician, taking over as President of India"Team Anna has also referred different deals during the defence minister ship of Paranab from 2004 to 2006. During his period , submarine deals are still being investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). During his external affairs minister ship, rice scandal had taken place in which Ghana had accused Indian officials and ministers of corruption in export of rice. Pranab always worked to promote relations with imperialist and capitalist -United States of America during nuclear deal and forcing direct investment in the retail sector, many academics and economists have   charged Pranab with supporting big corporate at the cost of livelihood of farmers and small businessmen..
Odisha chief minister openly spoke against the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee and charged him with distributing huge finances to Bihar , Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal governments with sole purpose to garner support from Bihar,s chief minister Nitish Kumar , Mulayam Yadav's party Samajwadi Party and West Bengal's chief minister  Mamta Bannergjee.
On the other hand, Much mud were also thrown on Sangma during the electioneering. Many congress leaders described him "opportunist-remaining in Congress, deserting the party and joining Nationalist Congress Party and finally turning into anti-Congress parties like BJP, Biju Janata Dal and AIADMK" to put himself as Presidential candidate. Sangma has claimed that he is a candidate representing tribal interests but  he never championed the causes of tribal during his political career. Interestingly his daughter Agathat Sangma , who is a NCP member of Lok Sabha, is minister in Manmohan Singh government..Interestingly she campaigned for her father during elections and voted to him defying her stature of being a minister and also NCP directive! Sangma's  primary aim appear  to join NDA in the 1914 Lok Sabha elections run-up because of his being a candidate o f BJP, Biju Janata Dal and AIADMK. Sangma  is trying for a new political space by becoming unsuccessful presidential candidate.
Significantly, Presidential elections this time , although described most pitched fight and controversial, such controversies have not left previous President elections untouched on the political scenes of India.First Presidential  elections had also a lot of confrontation and controversies among ruling political leadership. Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel had sponsored Dr Rajendra Prasad's name as first President of India while Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru wished C .Rajgopalachari as first President . But Pundit Nehru had to succumb to majority views and Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected first President of India. Like wise, serious rift emerged at the time of contest between V V Giri and Neelam Sanjiv Reddy  in 1969 presidential elections during Indira Gandhi's regime-there were fight between "syndicate and indicate (syndicate led by old guards of Congress and Indicate led by traditional and progressive Congressmen led by Indira Gandhi)"Sanjeev Reddy , being the official candidate of the  ruling Congress party had to lick the dust and V V Giri , who was independent candidate, unofficially supported by Indira Gandhi had won that elections. Subsequently the ruling Congress split-Congress led by Nijlinggappa ad Congress led by Indira Gandhi. Later Congress led by Nijlinggappa vanished and Indira Congress became official Congress party led by Indira Gandhi..
Finally, Mukherjee will be 13th President of India amid much -much controversy. In view of 1914 Lok Sabha elections, which appear to be hung Lok Sabha in view of resentment of  against UPA led by Congress against corruption and price rise, role of Pranab Mukherjee will be keenly watched. Apart from that over 17 mercy petitions including of Mumbai bomb blast accused Kasab, waiting for death sentence,pending before the President and their  disposal are also eagerly awaited During Pranab Mukherjee presidency although President has not much say over the matter as only after the advice of President can act and will have to ditto the government recommendation as per  the Constitutional provisions. Of course people are afraid over neo-liberal views of Pranab Mukherjee?
Although Pratibha Devi Singh Patil's tenure did not have any political turmoil like earlier occasions, the controversy did not leave her untouched l. Her frequent foreign trips had attracted much criticism on which over Rs 700 crore were spent during her tenure. Apart from this her defence land wish  in Pune from military lands also raised much  resentment in the country and  later she dropped  the idea of taking such land from defence ministry for constructing post-retirement house in Pune.
SOURCE: Parliament proceedings, Shah Commission Report, Day-to-day newspapers and weekly magazines and fortnightly including Frontline, Achieves of South Block and North Block , Various sites on Internet. .

Saturday 21 July 2012

OMINOUS SIGNAL FOR SECULARISM IN INDIA!

Recent happenings in "Sangh Parivar", led by Rashtriya Swambsewak Sangh(RSS) exactly bring back to the memory of horror in India in the wake of Babari Masjid demolition and subsequent massacres of Muslims in riots throughout the country in late 1980s. Intense  infighting , power struggle in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its cohorts in the Sangh Pariwar, a strange development is taking place in the saffron party-BJP-a political wing of the RSS! There is a strange craze for bringing the Gujarat Chief minister and a Hindu fanatic Narendra Modi on the national forefront as prime ministerial candidate in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 1914. It is a fact that Narendra Modi is capable of creating stir in uniting Hindu, particularly its youths  throughout the country, thanks to the RSS-the BJP's progenitor, ideological mentor, political master and organisational gatekeeper.All these happenings will remind us how the Babari Masjid was demolished under the patronage of senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani in Ayodhaya , giving bad name to the secular fabric of India as well as insecurity among minority communities, particularly Muslims.

 Only because of these developments, the BJP succeeded in uniting Hindu votes throughout the country and remained in power for  over six years in the shape of National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Following the sad demolition of Babari Masjid in Ayodhaya , not only thousands of Muslims were killed in different places of the country but also rampant rise in terrorists activities, spearheaded by fanatic Muslim organisations in collaborations with the fanatic Muslims of the world resulted into killings of hundreds of persons in different bomb explosions in the country in the last 15 years. India continues to be a sensitive and has become more and more prone to terror activities.
Notwithstanding Narendra Modi cannot be forgotten for his dubious role and stigma of 2002 Gujarat riots in which thousands of Muslims were butchered with the tacit support of Modi as chief minister of Gujarat, the Hindu and Sangh Pariwar is giving weight to Modi because of his ability to encourage and incite party cadre as well as other wings of Sangh Pariwar through his demagoguery, his martial image and his vicious war-mongering rhetoric.An eminent columnist Praful Bidwai, in a recent article in  an English fortnightly,  has said, "Modi has become the BJP's membership's  biggest hero to whom everyone must knot ow.But Modi has also proved himself petty-minded, parochial, egotistic, viciously self-serving and vindictive.Whether or not this is compatible with the stature of a national leader, the RSS seems to have decided that Modi is the winning horse; he must be backed."
More over May-24 and 25, 2012 meeting of the national executive of the BJP in Mumbai saw some emergence of "second generation" leadership in the BJP following the eclipse of Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Adavani's hold over the organisation. And the Mumbai meeting ended with Narendra Modi emerging as strong leader in the party, obviously for managing next general elections of the Lok Sabha. taking into account the image of Modi among Hindu fanatics, the RSS has to digest many abnormal situations to placate him. If anybody goes by unprecedented welcome of Modi in Mumbai meeting, Modi's emergence as undisputed and uncontested leader of the  BJP in recent past. The absence of L K Advani and Sushama Swarajya from the public meeting in Mumbai after national executive session, obviously to exptress their reservation over encouragement of Modi by Sangh Pariwar, particularly RSS remained symbolic and ineffectual.
Modi's gradual emergence at the national scene is not because of his exoneration by the Supreme court-appointed  Special Investigation Team (SIT)  under former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) R K RAghavan for the massacre of 69 people including former member of Parliament Ahsan Jafari in the Gulbarg Society case or the so called hype about development in Gujarat under the stewardship of Modi. Rather many more hidden things are behind his propping up by Sangh Pariwar.-mainly that is internal dynamics, electoral calculations based on bulk  of Hindu votes and also the Modi's ability to raise  maximum funds for the party for spending in the next elections.Modi has rewarded the capitalists and industrialists with open arms in the recent years. Almost all industrialists and capitalists including Ambani Brothers,-Anil and Mukesh Ambanis, Sunil Bharati Mittal, Ratan Tata as well as home-grown businessmen- such as Gautam Adnani and Karsan Patel besides some big multinationals including Maruti Motors of Japan etc have welcomed Modi and praised him for giving them opportunity to set-up flourishing industrial units in his state In getting support from Modi, at least these big capitalists and industrialists have forgotten Modi's hands soiled with blood in communal carnage in Gujarat because Modi led Gujarat government have given them free hands, ignoring rule of law in the state! "They rather consider Modi most" ideal . next leader of India", Prafulla Bidwai said and added "these  industrial magnates consider Modi as an inspiring leader with whom Gujarat is blessed, whose flawless execution of Gujarat development model."
Interestingly the scenes in Gujarat are not like that what are being painted.. The official human development Report (2004) has said that the Gujarat has achieved only 48 percent of the targets set for human development.Gujarat's achievements on the front of illiteracy, education, health, nutrition, welfare and social security are much lower that than its gross domestic products growth rates. It has gone down in many sectors even the state is fourth rank of all states  in percapita income in the country-, it has gone down at number -six in education and number nine in health care as well as its sex ratio is much below the national average. On malnutrition and hungers, the Gujarat has worse rankings.Amid tall claim of plenty of power, the electricity crisis is there in many parts of the state. Praful Bidwai, who has visited to Mundra in Kutch, where a huge 4,600 MW private power station exists and another 4000 MW is coming up.He has said  that the zone have frequent power cuts.
In Mumbai's meeting , Modi was called "Gujarat Ka sher" (lion of Gujarat) and glorified as greatest leader of India.Praful Bidwai has said, " the Sangh Pariwar is looking for a quasi-fuehrer, the Supreme Leader, behind whom BJP cadres can rally in war-like formation-no matter how incompatible such bellicosity is with democratic process and how it vitiates India's social and political climate."
In my opinion such impending  political scenes must be antagonising everybody, beieving secular, socialist, democratic republic in India.But the gambles of RSS goes how far depends on the maturity of the Indian electorate? It is definite facts that with the energence of Modi on the national political scene and his so called ability to mobilise Hindus of the country-there are many if and buts in giving him chance to rule the nation. Chances of a number of political allies like JD(U) led by its national president Sharad Yadav and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar alienating from Modi could not be ruled out.
 But their past records have different story. If the past history of BJP-RSS combine's refusal to act against Modi  for his role in carnage of Muslims in Gujarat  during last NDA rule at the centre led by Atal Behari Vajpayee, is taken into consideration,,except Lok Jan Shakti Party of Ram Bilas Paswan, who quit NDA to protest Gujarat riots, the JD(U) of Nitish Kumar, who is currently keeping Narendra Modi at a distance in his home state Bihar being BJP , a coalitoon partner of his government, had failed to speak against Modi or Gujarat riots or hold an enquiry into Godhara train burning as railway minister during those period. Now let us hope , this time Nitish Kumar is in stroneger position and to woe Muslims , his JD(U) may desert NDA if Narebdra Bhai plunges in national politics as Sangh Pariwar's prime ministerial candidate in next Lok sabha elections. Nitish Kumar himself claims as prime ministerial nominee on behalf of NDA for next Lok Sabha elections
But for that Sangh Pariwar may make alternative arrangements like aligning with AIDMK of Jayalalitha, Biju Janata Dal of Navin Patnaik, TDP of Chandrabanu Naidu,  Bahujan Samajwadi Party of Mayawati, TC of West Bengal chief minister mercurial Mamata Bannerjee  and floating parties like National Conference of Adbdulla  and Assam Gon Parishad, Janata Dal (Secular) of Deve Gowda as they  had been in the NDA rule in 1998-2004 led by the  BJP or alingned with Sangh Pariwar this way or that way  in case  Narendra Modi  succeeds in emerging Sangh Pariwar's BJP as largest party in the next :Lok Sabha elections!

But strong secular parties like left parties including CPI, CPM, etc as well as Rashtriya Janata Dal of Laloo Prasad Yadav, Samajwadi Party of Mulayam singh Yadav , which had been all opposed to NDA during its rule in the country, are already there to counter such move. And the Congress is itself gear its loins to face Narendra Modi's onslaughts lock, stock and barrel. And of all there may be polarisation of votes of minority communities, particularly Muslims against Hindu fanatics mobilisation in the country under the leadership of Narendra Bhai Modi.
Muslims account of 13.4 percent votes of total population of the country. All minorities together constitute 18.4 percent-(Christian-2.3pc; Sikh-1.90 pc, Buddhist-08 pc, Parasi-0.007pc. Over 100 districts have Muslims largest population. Will these population will remain silent spectators in case of fire- balling of Narendra Modi during next elections under the patronage of Sangh and Hindu Pariwar? Will not Narendra Bhai Modi be isolated for destroying  secular fabric of the Indian democracy? How far RSS gamble to put Narendra Modi will succeed in view of ignoring top-ranking BJP leaddrs in the country?

Friday 20 July 2012

WOMEN OF THE GLOBE BECOMING MOST VULNERABLE!

There are   many sad tales of women in India! But women of the world are also not safe in many  countries. Atrocities, harrassments of women are gradually increasing in many nations of the world. Recently, I have put a topic on my blog, headlined "Wave of Violence Swallow Women in Mexico" where rate of attacks and killings of women have risen sharply. Women are killed indiscriminately in Mexico out of gelousy and gang-warfares, aflicting by drug menace. But the picture are not so rosey in other parts of the world. In India, women are still considered second class citizens whereas the Constitution of India provides equal right to all human beings. Rapes, murders, dowry deaths, denigeration of women in India have become order of the day. Recent example is in Gauhati in Assam where a girl was raped by some influential people after abducting her from busy thorough-fare in full view of the public. Such incidents in different parts of the India are not new. One must be aware about bull-dozing of reservation to women in Parliament and state assemblies. Definitely the women reservation proportion must be on caste basis. Deprived women of deprived caste and community must be given quota in reservation to women in the Indian context. In some countries, women are tortured and harrassed for not giving births to more than one child . And in India such situation is gradually being forced upon and women are being told to give birth to only two child otherwise they will be deprived to government facilities including representing the prople in panchayat, local bodies, Parliament and state assemblies. Male dominance in India is still forcing the women to lead their lives under the thumb of males!
A recent harrowing tale of forced  anbortion in to a seven-month-old fetus in a hospital in Shaanxi Province has practically shocked the men-kind. Not only that, under one child policy in China, women are forced to abort the second child with tacit pressure of Chinese government and its officials.According to a recent report in The New York Times;as well as score of internet surfings; it has come to light how cruelty in forcing abortion are taking deep root in China. Women of China are under lot of pressure and they are guard by officials and security forces when they come for delivery of child in different hospitals of the country. The women- Fen Jiannei had been in a country hospital in Shaanxi province since her a girl child was stillborn after officials induced labour pains on June 02, 2012. Her sister-in-law said that her brother Ms Feng's husband-wasbeaten last week by loca l officials on some flimsy pretext and described him "traitor", obviously for second child.The reported harrassment came despite the fact that local officials were punished for the forced abortion after a photograph of bed-ridden mother and bloody fetus was posted on the internet in mid-June.
Xinhua, the strate news agency of China, had reported that after investigation, two-conutry level or lower officials were fired and five others received warnings or demerits, The New York Times report said and added that however the woman was provided subsidy. Even than, the topics of forced abortion became matter of intense discussions on the internet. Hu Xijin, chief editor of the Golabal Times, a state run newspaper that often prints nationalistic editorials wrote on his microblog on June 12,2012 that what Ms Feng had endured was "barbaric .We should promote civilised fsamily planning.However, I am against using this one incident to reject China's family planning policy. Family Planning has saved China rather than harmed it."
The New york report says, " In a telephonic interview Ms Feng, whose voice filled with exhauaution, says, My body is slowly recorvering. I still have headaches. I am not allowed to leave hospital. The hospital is bringing food three times a day, the food is okay. But I feel I am under lot of pressures." Ms Feng is in the hospital with her five-year-old daughter and sister-in-law Deng Jicai-her husband is missing since a few days back to talk to officials. Family is from Yuping in Zengijia, township of Zhenping country.
CicChinese state media has reported that local officers had visited Ms Feng and apologised to her. On the opther hand Mr Deng , who tried to go to Beijing to see a cibil right lawyer, sat for an interview, he was stoppedby men in cars and beaten up Ms Deng alleged.
After forced abortion, Mr Deng opened a microblog account and began recounting family's ordeal. In between , he was abducted by the family planning officials after he refused to pay fine $6,300 for the second pregnancy to his wife.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

ICELAND TOPMOST PECAEFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD:INDIA RANKS 142 POSITION OF 158 NATIONS SURVEYED!

Mahatma Gandhi's truth and non-violence has still a big meaning A small country in the Planet! , .known as Iceland , is the "most pecaeceful country in the world". Whereas Afganistan, Sudan, Iraq, and the  Democractic Repoublic of Congo are most crime-prone and violent countries in the world. India ranks 142 worse than China, Italy, United Kingdom,, Cuba, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangla Desh, Iran, etc, according to an authenticated survey under Global Peace Index (GPI) , published by the Institute of  Economics and Peace (IEP).
According to GPI; peacefulness has returned to approximately the level seen in 2007 butmeasures of peacefulness have improved, There has been rise in "internal conflicts".This is particularly noticeable in the rise in fatalities from terrorists'acts which have more than trebled since 2003 in many of the 158 nations surveyed. The indicators range from a nation's level of military expenditure to its relations with  me neieghbouring countries and the level of respect for human rights. The index has been tested against a range of potential "driven" determines of peace. including level of democracy and transparency, education, and national well beings. The index also finds the monetery cvalue of peace, they estimate that if the world had been completely peaceful in 2011-equal to the size of Germany and Japan's economic combined.!
The smallest population of any NATO member state-Iceland, is elusive country, which state of affairs known as peace on the earth..Iceland is one of the best progressive nation on the Planet: its welfare system offers health and higher education for each of its 320,000 citizens. Significantly Iceland is the fiirst country in the world to legalise gay marriage .While the country has hit some thin ice-in 2008 it basically went bankrupt, promoting public riots and in 2010, an unprecedented Icelandic volcano wreked travelchaos across the north Atrlantic-its general repetation as a pleasant environment put it number one on the list. Iceland is followed by Denmark and New Zealand, which tied best second place in peacefulness in the globe.
Out of 158 countries listed, the war-torn East Africaan nations of Somalia came in dead last while Syria,, which the UN says has developed into civil war, dropped more than 30 places in the rankings."Iceland is once again ranked the most peaceful country in the world followed by Denmark and New Zealand while Suyria has biggest drop in margin failing over 30 places to be placed at 147th. The UK has fallen three places behind to the 29th position, meaning it is the first year the U K placement has not risen in the list..The top fallers are Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman and Malawi. The middle East is now amongst one of the least poeaceful countries reflecting the turbulence and instablity created by events of the Arab Springs.
Sri Lanka, Zimbabe, Bhutan Guyuna and Phillipines are the top five risers on GPI-2012 including three of the top five rises. Asia's pacific region's overall score improved by the greatest extent from 2011. However India has slipped to 142 position from its earlier score of 136, 128, 122 in the preceeding years in respect of peacefulness and at the same time rise in criminal activities!
Accotding Steve Killilea of the IEP; Afganistan, Sudan, Iraq and Democratic Republic of Congo make up the bottom five. Sub-Saharan Africa is no longer the least peaceful region in the world for the first time GPI began. Situaation in China is also not good. Currently, the China is at 89th position in comparision to its earlier rankings in  the preceedings years..
Crime rates in the United States has also increased sharply. Currently it is ranked 88 position. But reports , emanating from the US ; the killing rises sharply in its prestigious city-Chicago by 38 percent per year..Chicago is considred third largest cities in the US-there homicides are up by 38 percent a year ago and shhoting incidents have also risen considerably. However, killing is steady or dropped in New York, Los Angles and some other important cities. As of June, 17240 people have been killed here in the United States this year, mostly in the shooting incidents, 66 more than the corresponding period in the same period in 2011. Chicago is located magnificently near Magnificent Miles near the Lincon Park. All these criminal actvities in Chicago are because of gasngwarfare!
While Iceland is number one peaceful country in the world, Japan's rank five, Austria-sixth Czech Republic-13, German-15, Bhutan-19, Malaysia-20,, Australia-22, Singapore-23, UK-29, Italy-38, France-40, South Korea -42, United Arab Emirates-46, Kuwait-47, Indonesia-63, Cuba-70, Greece-77, Nepal-80, Barazil-83, US-88, China-89, Bangala Desh--91, Saudi Araboia-106, Egypyt-111, South Africa-127, Iran-128, India-142, Syria--147, North Korea-153, Iraq-155, Afganistan-157, Somalia-159( These figures of rankings do not include all 158 surveyed nationss).

SOMALIA,KNOWN AS ICELAND

Tuesday 17 July 2012

MUSLIMS IN THE GLOBE VIS-A-VIS IN INDIA!

I must talk about Muslims! Sadly, Muslims in the world are called terrorists in view of large scale terror activities in a number of nations in the world. Strange situations are prevailing in the world countries, the entire Muslims community are feeling themselves isolated and unsafe despite the facts that Islamic religion has best tenants in the globe as well as their cultural and literary contributions have great impact.There are general perceptions that the community is being used for enlightened self-interests throughout the globe, particularly in India!
In this nefarious game, the super powers of the world have played sinister games for using and misusing Muslims countries in the world. And after their enlightened self-interest, these super powers have discarded them and given them bad names. It all started about one hundred years ago when Europe and America had come in the Gulf and Arab World as well as Muslim -dominated countries to discover oil. In the process, they grabbed not only their prime natural resources but also imposed upon them their supremacy. America has surpassed in these misdeeds!Except Iran most of the Muslim-dominated gulf and oil countries of the planet had fallen in the traps of America and Europe!
Later they started playing each other Muslim countries against each other. Such story is old -but happenings of about 20 years exaggerated the problems for Muslim community in various nations , dominated by them. To gain  economic power bases in the oil countries, America and Europe did not lag behind in maligning the community. In the process, they played their games to instigate Iraq against Iran, Pakistan against India and Afghanistan , Afghanistan against Russia, formerly USSR and many other Muslim countries \against each other. Osama bin Laden was made a king-pin by America to create anarchism throughout the world. And later after serving its interest, America sent Osama in the waste paper baskets ,
One must know that unethical and bad practise do not exist for long. Osama finding himself and the Muslim community in lurches as well as being disgusted with the attitude of Europe and America definitely incited their community for revenge mainly because of denigratin their community in the eyes of the world. From there Taliban , a dreaded terrorists' organisation was formed and its activities spread in the entire world. America was taught a lesson. Taliban under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden meticulously planned attacks on important centres including WORLD TRADE Centre in America and not only ruined these centres but gave warning signal to US and Europe that Muslims community are not going to tolerate denigration of community more now.Thereafter many terror activities, initiated by Muslim terror organisations were given shapes and many nations including India and even Muslim countries like Pakistan were made targets. Much have happened in different parts of the globe.
Such circumstances made Muslims as a whole suspicious in the eyes of the world. Although Muslims are considered one of the largest contingents in respect of populations in the planet, natural resources as well as cultural heritage in the world, today they are finding themselves in helpless situation. and crazing for space to spread their influences And because of that, I strongly feel, they have adopted the path of terror to show their might and also in an effort to restore their glorious past.
A recent two parts write up, published in the fortnightly of India-The Frontline, by an independent Pakistani writer Raza Naeem on the 100th birth anniversary of well-known Pakistani Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto has dwelt at length not only the contributions of Manto but also exposition of America by him to the Muslim world, particularly Pakistan in the past years.For elaborating his points on Manto, the writer has referred beautiful few lines written Majjeed Amjad in Manto, "I have seen him; on the cleanest roads in a dust covered amazement; in the gathering storm of blind, overturned cups; when he says throwing away the empty bottle: O World! Your beauty is ugliness; then the world stares back at him."
Discrimination to Muslims are reminiscent since long .Here we must mention, Raza Naeem, who has written about Manto for his plain speaking and writings. Raza says, "A collection of Manto,s stories, essays and sketches translated into  English, by his nephew Hamid Jalal just a year after his death was quickly censored and withdrawn from circulation. Looking at the list of some of the luminaries who received the Nobel Prize in Literature between 1936 and 1955-the period of Manto's intellectual efflorescence-one can feel sorry that some unknown such as Roger Martin du Gard, Frans Eemil Sillanpaa, Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Par Fabian Lagerkvist and even Francois Mauriac received the award and Manto did not. It would have been a different story had Jalal's translations reached the Nobel Committee samizdat (and Manto would surely have heartily approved if the long arms "Uncle Sam had taken some time off from something democracy in Pakistan to help smuggle these to Oslo, as happened later in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's case. But may be Manto was on the wrong side of the Cold War).Surely, Winston Churchill, one of the history's greatest warmongers and 1953 Nobel laureate in Literature, might have been overlooked in favour of Manto that year for it was the irresponsible policy instituted under Churchil's leadership that led to blood bath of Partition and deaths of close to 1.5 million people and which Manto the consummate artist he was; he was perfect example how  poetic justice would have ideally been served. And Manto would have been a worthy successor to the only prior winner from the subcontinent of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Sir Rabindra Nath Tagore..................."
Such discrimination to Muslim, in the words of Manto himself, in a satirical short story titled "Progressive"", in which Manto assailed the notion of progressive writing as not having any relation to real life, he elaborates on his definition in the follow-up following words:"Amrit Kaur asked," what is this dreaded progressiveness?Joginder Singh gave his head slight movement along with his turban and replied:" Progressiveness-you wont understand its meaning straight way. A Progressive is one who like progress. It as a Persian word, In English a progressive is known as \radical; those short story writer who want progress in story writing; they are known as progressive story  writer.At this moment in India there are only three or four Progressive story writers, of whom, I am one............."
Not only that Manto lamented in his Letters to Uncle Sam" depicting about creating hegemony by Europe and America in the Muslim world to destroy their culture , history, economy as well as using Muslims to serve their interest!Manto has also blamed Pakistan and Muslim countries Mullahs, who were openly and shamelessly adopting pro-American..Manto, in  critical but straight forward writings, had offered some of equally subversive remedies for America's financial crisis, remarkably prescient if one look at the state of affairs of that country today as well as of Europe.................",Raza adds.
Without shedding light on horror of India-Pakistan partition on the eve of independence, now one must see the plight of Muslims in India. In both partitioned countries-India and Pakistan- minority community ,Hindu in Pakistan and Muslims in India are continuous victims of atrocity by the majority people in their respective countries.In India, Muslims are always used as vote banks  by almost all political classes. After vote, they are neglected like anything and nothing tangible is done to improve their deteriorating living condition!Here I must elaborate a few facts about discrimination to Muslims in India, pushing them to terror activities under the umbrella of various terror organisations. In India, there were many commissions and committees were formed since independence to ameliorate the living conditions of Muslims. Last but not the least we must refer the Sachchar Committee report, from which many measures were implemented by India and various state governments to salvage the pitiable conditions of Muslims in India without any fruitful results.
 Even today Muslims are worse neglected lot in India! They even lack basic humane facilities-what to speak of education, health etc. For this reasons appeared divisive forces in India like Saffron brigade led by Rashtriya Swawm Sevak Sangh (RSS). After independence it all started with demolition of  historic Babari Masjid in Ayodhaya led by senior Bhartiya Janata Party leader and prime ministerial aspirant Lal Krishna Advani and subsequent Hindu-Muslim riots in different parts of the country. There are a nother gruesome communal riots in Gujarat under the chief minister ship of Narendra Bhai Modi (he continues to get heroes welcome by majority sections of fanatic Hindu led by saffron brigades).. Practically various towns and cities as well as urban areas and rural areas of India witnessed bloodbath. In Mumbai alone, the attack was organised by Shiv Sena, a Hindu organisation under the patronage of RSS. Truth and non-violence preached by the Father of The Nation Mahatma failed to click!
Since 1967, 58 major riots were witnessed in different parts of India in which Muslims remained the worst victims. It happened like this: ten  communal riots in south;12 in east, 16 west, and 20 north India. Total death  toll in these communal riots remained 12,829 (official figures-but unofficial figures count them over 25,000). death figure region-wise are like this:-south-597, west-3426, east 35 81and north -5274..In Gujarat alone over 2500 Muslims were butchered under Modi's patronage!
For all these killings of Muslims, one must blame Hindu fanaticism!
As I belong to Bihar-I think I must mention communal riots in Bihar also. First communal riot took place in Bihar in August 1967 (183 illed);Jameshedpur-April 1979-120 killed; Biharshariff -August 1981-80 killed; October 1989 Bhaglpur-1161 killed, October 1990-Patna , state capital of Bihar--18 killed, October 1992-Sitamarhi- 44 killed, March 2001-Biharsharif-(Nalanda)-eight killed. These are official figures of killings-but unofficial figures count the death of more t han 3000. Except a few most of the killings were of Muslims. Moreover Muslims , perhaps of their neglect and isolation among world community, are becoming terrorists under Muslims' fanatic organisations either to restore their condition or to grab their lost supremacy, once mattered in the world!

Friday 6 July 2012

BUDDHISM:WHAT A WONDERFUL RELIGION IN THE WORLD?

"Buddhism had started at a time of social and spiritual revival and reforms in India.It infused the breath of new life in the people, it tapped new sources of popular strength and released new talent and capacity for the leadership.Under the Imperial patronage of  Ashoka it spread rapidly and became the dominant religion of India. It spread also to other countries and there was a constant stream of learn ed Buddha scholars going abroad from India and coming to India. This stream continued for many centuries.Buddhism influenced Indian life in hundred ways, as it was bound to, for it must be remembered that it was a living, dynamic and wide-spread religion in India for over a thousand years.Even in the long years of its decline in India, and when  later it practically ceases to count as a separate religion here, much of it remained as a part of the Hindu faith and in the national ways of life and thought-----"Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru in his book Discovery of India, written in 1940s in the Ahmednagar fort Prison Camp.

With these few lines about Lord Buddha are not only the faith and relevance of Buddhism in India and the major parts of the Planet but are  shining for salvation of human beings.To supplement the contention of Buddhism, I must refer about  Mahatma Buddh as narrated by  A L Basham, in his book The Wonder That Was India-"one night Mahamaya, chief queen of Suddhodhana, king of Sakyas, dreamt that she was carried away to the lake Anavatapta in the Himalayas, where she was bathed by the heavenly guardians of the four quarters of the Universe. A great white elephant with a lotus flower in his trunk approached her and entered her side (pl23c) Next day the dream was interpreted for her by wise men-she had conceived a wonderful son, who would be either Universal Emperor or a Universal Teacher. The child was born in a grove of Sal trees, called Lummbini, near the capital of Sakyas, Kapil Vastu, while his mother was  on way to her parents' home for her confinement. At birth he stood upright, took seven strides, and spoke, " This is my last birth-henceforth there is no more birth for me" The Boy was named Siddhartha at a great ceremony of his fifth from his birth. His gotra name was Gautam (in Pali Gotama by which he is commonly referred to in Buddhist literature).-----------"
It is said that Gautam was born and brought up , lived and died as a Hindu because much of his thoughts, which could not be found in one or other orthodox system and a great deal of morality could be matched from earlier or later Hindu books.Pundit Nehriu had said in his book Discovery Of India, " The Buddha story attracted me even in early boyhood, and I was drawn to the young Siddhartha, who, after many struggles and pain and torment, was to develop into the Buddha.. I liked to visit the many places connected with the Buddha legend, some time making a detour for the purpose. Most of these places lie in my province or not far from it. Here (on the Nepal frontier) Buddha was born, here he was wandered here (at Gaya in Bihar) he sat under the Boddhi tree and gained enlightenment, here he preached his first sermon, here he died-------------------"
His wonderful preachings captured the imaginations of  intellectuals and it went deep down into hearts of people." go unto all lands", Buddhas had said to his disciples and preach the gospel. Tell them that poor and lowly, the rich and the high , are all one and that all caste unite in this religion as do the rivers in the sea."Buddha's message was one of the universal benevolence, for love for all. For "never in this world does hatred cease to hatred; hared ceases by love." And "let a man overcome anger by kindness, evil by good..One may overcome a thousand men in battle but he who conquers himself is the greatest victor. Not by birth, but by his conduct alone, does a man became a low caste or a Barhmin" Even a sinner must not be condemned for who would willingly use hard speech to those who have done a sinful deed, strewing salt, as it were, upon the wound of their fault? Victory itself over another leads to unhappy consequences-"victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy."
What ever may be the reasons all these preachings are not at all based on any religions as well as without any references to God or another world.. His teachings are based on reasoning and logic and experience. Buddha had asked people to find exact truth from his own heart. Ignorance of truth is cause of all the miseries. In my opinion and experts view on  Buddhism religion, Buddha has referred about pain and suffering in life and given us "Four Nobel Truths", which mainly concerned with sufferings and its causes, the way to end it and the way to do it. Once Buddha has reportedly told his disciples, ""and while ye experienced this (sorrow) through long ages, more tears have flowed from you and have been shed by you, while ye strayed and wandered on this pilgrimage (of Life) and sorrowed and wept, because that was your portion which ye abhorred, and that which ye loved was not your portion, than all the water, which is in the four great oceans."
On such preachings of Buddha, Pundit Nehru has described in his book, "-Discovery of India, " Through an ending of this state of sufferings is reached Nirvan . As to what  Nirvana is , people differ, for it is impossible to describe a transcendental state in our inadequate language and in terms of the concepts of our limited minds. Some say it is just extinction, a blowing out. And Buddhas is reported to have denied this and to have indicated that it was an intense kind of activity. It was the extinction of false desire, and not just annihilation, but it cannot be described by us except in negative term. Buddha's way was the middle path, between the extreme of self-indulgence and self-mortification.From his own experiences of mortification of the body, he said that a person, who has lost his strength cannot progress along the right path...............Buddha told his disciples what he thought they could understand and live up to. His teaching was not meant to be a full of explanation of everything, a complete revelation of all that is. Once, it is said, he took some dry leaves in his hand and asked his favourite disciple, Anand, to tell him whether there were any other leaves besides those in his hands. Anand replied:"the leaves of  autumn are falling on all sides and there are more them than can be numbered." Then Buddha said : "in like manner I have given you a handful of truths, but besides these there are many thousands of other truths, more than can be numbered."--------------"
Thus Buddha's teachings spread far and wide in the globe thanks to the efforts of Maurayan empire-ChandraGupta's grand son Ashoka , Ashoka , being disgusted by killings of thousands of people in Kaling war, he decided to abandon warfare in the full tide of victory. His mind turned under the influence of Buddha's gospel and he embraced Buddhism. Ashoka got carved numerous of  edicts of Buddha in rock and metal and they conveyed his message not only to his people but to posterity. Ashoka himself devoted himself to the spread of Buddha's teachings. Buddhism spread rapidly from in India from Kashmir to ceylon. it penetrated into Nepal. and reached to Tibet, China and Mongolia. during those days, one of the consequences of this was the growth of vegetarianism and abstention from alcoholism drinks. Animal sacrifice was forbidden. There are many Ashoka's famous many-pillared hall in his palace at Pataliputra in Patna in Bihar was partly dug out by archaeologist about thirty years back.
A l Basham has referred in his book, " for over 40 years the reputation of Buddha grew and the sangha (literally society, the Buddhas Order) increased in number of influence. The end of Buddha came at the age of eighty years. he spent the last rainy season of his life near the city of Vaishali and after the rains he and his  followers journeyed northwards to the hill country, which had been Buddhists  home of his youth. On the day he prepared his disciples for his death, he told them that his body was now like a worn-out cart, creaking at every joint. He declared that he had made no distinction between exoteric and exoteric teaching but had preached the full doctrine(dharma). At Pawa he was entertained by a lay disciple, Cunda, the smith and ate a meal of pork. Soon after that he was attacked by dysentery but he insisted on moving on to the nearby town of Kusinagara. Here on the outskirts of the town he lay down under a sal tree and that night he died. His last words were: all composite things decay. strive diligently!" to them
Buddha died but his religion still is far and wide in the world although some deformities had come out at later stage.. To counter Buddhism, Shankaracharya , one of the greatest of India's philosopher, reportedly started religious order of or math for Hindu sanyasis or monks to counter Buddhiosm! . According to Pundit Nehru in his book;  this was an adoption of old Buddha practise of the Sangha. previously there had been no such organisatons of sanyasis in Brahminism although small group of them existed.. some degraded form of Buddhism continued in East Bengal and in the Sind in the north-west. otherwise Buddhism gradually vanished from India as a widespread religion.But before his death Shakracharya also admitted the importance of Buddhism and reportedly excused to counter the Buddhism
Hardly , three to four percent population of Indian are Buddhist religion followers. On the other hand, the teachings of Buddha and  Buddhism religion are spreading not only entire South-east Asia but entire Asia and many parts of Europe and America. According to an Opinion piece, written by famous author of "My life in the Middle ages: A survivor's Tale: James \Atlas in New York Times recently ; Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the United States of America. More Americans converts to Buddhism than to monrmonism (think about it Mitt). Dr Paul D Numrich, a professor of the World Religion and Inter-religion Relations, conjectured that there may be as many Buddhist as Muslims in the United States by now.. Thomas A Tweed in "the Anerucaan with Buddhism, " refers as "nightstand Buddhists"-mostly catholics, Jews (yeah I know  Juddihists)and refugee from other religion who keep a stack ( Prema choldron books besides their beds).Perhaps Buddhism is our current mind-body obsession. Dr Andrew Weil, in his book, Spontaneous Happiness, establishes a relationship between Buddhist practise and the developing integrative model of mental health". This connection is worth documented at the laboratory for affective neuroscience at the university the Wisconsin, researchers found that Buddhist meditation practise can change the structure of our mind-which we know from numerous clinical studies, can change our physiology. The mindful awareness research centre, at UCLA is collecting data in the new field of "mindfulness-based cognitive therapy" that  shows a positive correlation between the therapy and what a centre co-director, Dr S Daniel Siegel, calls  mind sight. he \writes of developing an ability to focus on our internal world that " we can use to re-sculpt our neutral pathways, stimulating the growth of areas that are crucial to mental health."
"I felt this happenings during my four-day retreat. each day, we sat for hours as bees hummed beyond the screened windows of the meditation room, . it was hard to concentrate at first, as anyone who had tried meditating knows: it requires toleration for the repetitive, inane-often boring-thoughts that float through self-observing consciousness(Buddhist the word use the word"mindfulness to describe the process; if it some times felt more like mindlessness). but after  a while, when the brass bawl was struck and we\ settled into silence, I found myself enveloped if only for a few moments in the calm emptiness of no-thought." the opinion writer said  The writer has narrated experiences of attending a four -day meditation camp at   Buddha religion camp at Vermont-Sakyong's "turning the Mind into Ally," about four hour drive from Manhattan.END

Thursday 5 July 2012

NITISH , MODI CRAZING FOR IMAGE BUILDING NOT DEVELOPING BIHAR AND GUJARAT?


At least twoi chief ministers- Nitish Kumar of Bihar and Narendra Modi- in the country appear past-masters in building their own image not only in the name of the "so called development in their respective states but are  reportedly projecting themselves as "so called real messiah of poor", obviously with their eyes fixed on the prime ministership of India in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections , scheduled in  2014. In the process, both of them were engaged in the war of attritions to malign each other.While Modi is blaming caste leadesrship mainly resonsible for Bihar's backardness, Nitish Kumar, accusing Modi of creating communal divide in the country, specially in Gujarat.
Amid the shrewdness of both these regional leaders, there are certain crude facts about their  role in their respective states, which could raise eyebrows of people of the country. Both of them are claiming themselves as "vikash purush (Development men)" for bringing their respective states to new zenith. But recorded facts and statistics smashed the myths of "Vikash purush".
According to official records, the GDP growth increase rate  in the country during the period between 1994-95 to 1999 , which was  06.09 percent , was rose by on and average 07 percent during the period between 2001-2010.
Taking into consideration the average of national GDP increase in the past several years of India as a whole, the growth rate increase durng the same period like 1994-95 to 1999, the growth rate of Gujarat, which was eight percent, had increased to average 8.68 percent between 2001 to 2009-2010. Although Gujarat is considered a rapid developing and developed state since its bifurcation and  inception from greater Bombay state ,now  Maharshtstra .Clearly during the rule of Gujarat chief Miniuster Narendra Modi, the GDP , on and average , has increased by only point 68 percent in comparision to such figures of previous regime.Such is the  one aspect of the so called "Vikash Purush" of Gujarat Narendra Bhai Modi.
More over such figure of Bihar under the stewardship of another so called "vikash Purush"-chief minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar- is also astounding! In between the period , the GDP of Bihar had clearly and definitely jumped  to attractive level!between the period 1994-95 to 1999, on and average, the GDP of Bihar was 4.70 percent. The GDP of Bihar surprisingly jumped to  8.02 percent during the period between 2001 to 2010 .However these period should be shared by  five years each by both Laloo -Rabari regime and the present chief minister Nitish Kumar.
During the same period, GDP of other states of the countryt also started jumping -Chhatishgarh (2.88 percent to 7.98 percent),Haryayana (5.96 percent to 8.95 percent), Uttarakhand (3.22 percent to 11.84 percent), Odisha (4.42 percent to 7.95 percent), Maharashtra (6.30 percent to 8.13 percent).
When these growth rate is taken into considerations, economic performances of other states were not bad in comparision to the "so called majic figure of GDP of Gujarat and Bihar". It does definitely mean that other states of the country are also developing at good pace but not like faster pace in Bihar and Gujarat. But Gujarat has long history of adequate development in the country unlike Bihar, which was considered a "Bimaru state" in the country.
According to Anand Pradhan,, associate professor of the Indian Institute of Mass communication; the myth of Gujarat development is that its economic development and per person SDP, "sakal Gharelu utpad" had remained at the top in the country since long-not during the period of BJP of Narendra Modi 's regime.Gujarat remained  among  the top of ten states in the country in the SDP zone per person in the last 40 years in the country. At some time Gujarat remained on fifth or sixth position and once at fourth places in comparison to top ten developed states of the country! Modi has not initiated a magic wand to improve  Gujarat's GDP to beat Haryana, Punjab, Maharshtra, Tamil Nadu like developed states in the field of the SDP per person. There are many instances of such myths of GDP growth in  Gujarat.
With regards to Bihar, GDP increase during Nitish tenure, the increase rate is 2005-06- 0.92 percent, 2006-2007-17.75 percent, 2007-2008-7.64 percent, 2008-2009-14.58 percent, 2009-2010-10.42 percent, 2010-2011-13.37 percent definitely looked like magic band-but these figures and statistics appear to be  attractive art of presenting datas of GDP! In fact, according to Pradhan, Bihar's economic management had remained at the most small level, which is called "base effect" in Economics.Bihar's economy was at lower level and its increase level was also minimal. as soon as the economy started  looking up in Bihar, it started showing attractions in sudden increase level of GDP.
According to Pradhan; the economic management of Bihar and recent spurt in GDP appears to be unitary and have many anomalies-it meant that economic development in certain sectors has brought big jump in the GDP of Bihar. For example it must be noted down that  sudden increase in the GDP in Bihar  has taken place because of sudden boom in the construction of roads-bridges-real estate. Sharp increase in GDP has not toughed upon core sectors like agriculture, industry etc. Notably   per capita income of in Bihar per person, which was Rs 8341 on and average in 2005-2006, has also sharply risen in 2010-11 by Rs 20069 per person!. If such per capita income is compared with developed states like Haryana, which has percapita income per person is Rs 92387, Punjab- 67473, Maharshtra- Rs 83471, Tamil Nadu- Rs 72993, Bihar is far behind to these developed states.If such trend continued in respect of GDP growth anamoly, Bihar will take 20 years to reach at the level of developed states.
Sadly, Bihar has not developed in its GDP because of lack of industries, particularly manufacturing, primary sector agriculture ,  and creation  of basic infrastructures in the field of electricity, which is in worse position presently. Farm sectors' economy is not upto mark because the Nitish government is reportedly not paying proper attention to this sector in view of its importance in rural areas and masses dependent on this serctor, economic experts lamented .
Lowest human index ratio in at l;east two states -Nitish Kumar's of Bihar and Gujarat's of Narendra Bhai Modi- have made little impact. Mases in both states are still groaning under starvation,lack of  proper fruits of poverty elimination programme, health , education, housing , employment etc  Malnutrition and hunger are  rampant  in both Gujarat and Bihar as per reports of various international and national bodies like WHO, UNO as well as reports of union government. In this respect , Bihar is at the lowest ebb of three worse affected states in the country on these scores.
Pradhan , in his report to Hastak-kshep, has painted 'shameless situation on these scores in Gujarat". In the instances of  hunger, Gujarat , which  whose "Raja Narendra Modi "claims shining Gujarat, is on the lowest ebb as human index reports incomprision to other developed states. Gujarat is bracketed with Bihar and Odisha, where hunger among poor class are common. Gujarat is not better than even Uttar Preadesh where such incidents are very common with regards to human index figures!
Inequality and creation of regional imbalances as well as discrimination towards  Muslims and adivasis dominated areas in respect of spreading development network. are said to be the main reasons of not reaching the fruits of development to these majority sections of society in Gujarat, the hman index reports of WHO and UN say., adding that in respect of malnutrition, Gujarat and Bihar surpassed all records to tackle hunger and malnutritions incomparision to other developed states. Thus the situation is far worse in both Bihar and Gujarat on these scores! Friuits of development are not reaching to Muslims and Adivasis in Gujarat because of discriminatory attitidue and "undeclared economic discriminatory economic  policy of Narenbdra Bhai Modi government in Gujarat", said Pradhan.
Pradhan further highlighted the lacunae of both Nitish Kumar and NarendraModi and alleged that both the "self-styled stalwarts are encouraging no-liberal policy bypassing poor in their respective states, resulting into not percolating the fruits  of GDP increases in their respective states to common  masers. And both of them are engaged in putting the blames on union government to divert the attention of general masses towards these maladies".
While Nitish Kumar, who is said to be the main beneficiary of central assistance as per reports of India government in successive years, is harping continuously on "special status to the state", Modi is well set and accusing the union government of the UPA and its leadership for" ignoring the masses of the country  and self-praising his extraordinary role in developing Gujarat to score his points among masses"! END