No Caste Please

Outlook magazine carries a story on how an attempt to carry out a caste census is being stonewalled by private sector companies.When the OBC quota controversy flared up, people questioned the basis for the 27% quota, saying there was no data to back it up. At the time, it was pointed out that there has been a marked refusal on the part of successive governments to collect the data in the first place. Ok, what is past is past, but surely there is merit in trying to see whether quota policy rests on a sound basis of data? This is what the Outlook story says:

The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC) is embarking on a
massive caste census for the first time since Independence. Besides covering
1.18 crore households across the state, it will also look at the private
sector—which is where it runs into resistance. The commission has written to 176
companies, including IT majors like Infosys, Wipro, Dell, Yahoo, MindTree, Sun
Microsystems, IBM and HP, asking them to furnish "religion and caste-wise
information" of employees.

But the response has so far been cold. KSCBC wrote to the companies in March this year and set a May 15 deadline for submission of data. But, as a KSCBC official pointed out, "Only 11 companies have provided information, 18 letters were returned undelivered, and three companies have written back that they are unable to furnish the data." Last fortnight, the commission sent out reminders to as many as 154 companies. The report points out that opposition to the survey is not confined to the private sector- many in government would rather not have the facts coming out. Because then we will know who has benefited so far and who hasn't.

Search For Peace

This post is one which I m been trying to write from a long time. Well what is it. When “I” die- will bring more happiness in a person’s life. Human Brain is so biased towards self. It always require people to forgive it when it goes wrong and commands for justice (when other do same thing) when others do wrong or injustice to it. It is always there in a person’s blood to be self-seeking person. This is actually not a mistake to a certain level. Well I am absolutely not an exception to it and no one is exception.Even before this post got a nice comment from my friend on ma topic. When “I” Dies from the person’s mind it will surely have good impact in his life. 

The feeling of “I” increases the materialistic desires present in a person’s life. Well we need to have ambitions desires aims and we need to be focused towards it but the materialistic desires in a person’s life should be reduced. Well being a sensitive issue I cannot dig in it what kind of desires can a person have. Materialistic desires are just egoistic desire. All of us live constantly meeting a variety of experiences, and at each incident, we perceive, react and come to act in the outer field with other people. In this process, we unwittingly increase our egoistic desires. The gap between our subjective mind and objective mind is filled with these egoistic desires. 

When the gap between this objective mind and subjective mind is nullified, is the situation that “I” has died in you. This will increase the happiness in you, providing you with good health all your lifetime. Well from “Bhagawad geeta” If you happen to see a mirror and u don’t see your image reflected , it is not that the mirror is not reflecting, a layer of dust may be covering it that you could not see the reflection, once you clean the mirror the reflection comes alive. So is the coordination between subjective and objective mind is been filled by dirt which has to been cleaned. Which one of the way is spiritualism. Well other is yoga.

Reality, in current turmoil each person in some way considered to be self-seeking by other. Yes it has been a difficult place to survive and fittest will survive, and some kind of symbiotic relationship is needed for one person with other for existence. This will bring in a thought that, that (other) person is self seeking. True on a way and false on the other way. A deadlock. At the end we all lead a life for comfort and luxury forgetting the true comfort. Leaving behind all peace and we all pursue in search for peace.

There cannot be flood & drought at once!!!

 It is that time again when we get to see the Finance Minister and the Industries Minister more on the news channels than cricket or movie celebrities. Arguably the most abused jargon in economics is dominating the headlines all over. Yes, inflation is what it is. Well, it has been hovering at around 7 per cent for a few weeks now and that’s well over 200 basis points more than the comfort level for the RBI.

As alarming as this number is, it does not tell the complete story! We are one of the few countries in the world, which report inflation at WPI (Wholesale Price Index) and not CPI (Consumer Price Index). In a vast country like ours and especially with the fact that we do not have the robust of supply chains, the gap between WPI and CPI is critical. In CPI terms, the impact of inflation on a person in Delhi is significantly different from the impact on a person in Shillong!

Rising inflation

As can be seen on every news channel and read in every newspaper, there is rising inflation in the economy, which means that we have to shell out more than what we used to before for our consumption. Does that mean that suppliers are better off than the consumers?

Logic suggests it should be the case. But amidst the rising prices of wheat, rice, and pulses there are reports of farmer suicides and loan waiver to help save the struggling farmers! I thought only one of these situations could exist at a time.

When the oil prices are soaring sky high, the whole world suffers but surely someone stands to gain and in this case it is the oil producing economies. But what is happening in India is quite inexplicable! Something is missing in this equation. Surely you cannot have a situation in which both consumers and suppliers are worse off — that cannot happen in a free market!

Yes, we do have government interventions in the form of price ceilings and support prices but that is applicable to a very few goods included in the calculation of inflation. By and large, it is a free market, and the market clears at the equilibrium price – meaning the price at which both the supplier and the consumer are willing to execute the trade.

All this even before the RBI has tinkered with its monetary policy to suck some liquidity out of the economy! When that happens, suppliers will be just as bad and consumers are going to be even worse off. How do we explain this dead weight loss?

A structural problem

Admittedly, we need to address shortage in supply of goods but that does not fix the problem completely, we must dig deeper. We cannot have fears of food shortage on one side and farmers moving out of agriculture or committing suicide on the other. This is a structural problem rather than a seasonal or a cyclical one.

If there is a danger of shortage of motorcycles when there is a demand for them in the market, what we would witness is that the Bajajs and the Hero Hondas would be increasing their production and not moving out of their business or declaring bankruptcy! But why is it different with agriculture?

Is this a strong case for our agricultural supply chain to be a value-decreasing phenomenon? Is it the middlemen who are responsible for this dead weight loss? To keep a bunch of middlemen happy, is it fair to make the rest of the country pay the price? Is it not the right time for us to spend more efforts on creating direct sourcing networks? Isn’t e-chaupal a good initiative to be emulated?

Medical Ethics

 "To Cure sometimes, to relieve often and to comfort always" is quoted as the duty of physicians. But a cursory survey of patients often conveys a different picture. Many physicians are often perceived as rude and patronising, which then begets the question `why.'

The answer to this question is not simple. The genesis of this behaviour among many doctors lies in their training in medical colleges, rather the `absence' of education about medical ethics. The subject of medical ethics is given prime importance in all western medical schools, but is surprisingly shelved away by the Indian medical curriculum. It is included under Forensic Medicine, which essentially deals with the legal aspects of medicine. I still fail to see the connection, as FM is essentially more about corpses, rather than living beings! In any case, medical ethics is a subject, which ought to be taught by clinicians, which is seldom done in most medical colleges.

To the common man (who is incidentally the patient), medical ethics is a topic, which deals with the following: duty of a physician, his limitations, the rights of patients and physician-patient issues like confidentiality, etc. At the outset, it might all sound like a lot of common sense, but then common sense isn't that common a commodity either! 

Why Is it Still There????Will It ever END

he topic which had much discussion, more than what was ever there, the one which had many cases filed and also won in it, It is none other than CHILD Labour.

It is been said that almost all child are provided with education,but many are found doing work rather than getting educated. Education of masses and creating awarness are the only means to achieve better society.
Well when why are'nt these child works doent go to school. Is'it that they dont education or due to poverty of there place of birth. It is basically poverty of the place of birth.
Acttually a scheme was intoduced in such a way that if the child is sent to school the family will be paid some money, a good scheme but we,wow wat a intelligence BUNK, CUT, go give attendance and come back as guided by their father and go to work for additional work. I dont know wheather this scheme is still there.
A direct photo of a boy in school dress found working, Painting of LORD Ganesha.Good work but he was introduced by to work by his father. Umbrella making and other small activities which he does with great creativeness.

But from where they learn it??.A creative mind is what is required and tested in person in any aspects if they are so creative then if developed they are the source of betterment of the country.In creativity lies the future.
If poverty exists, Child is not sent to school rather he is been sent to a job, to eradicate poverty education is must, so what is the solution. Awarness in each and every parent that education is the only means which can help their children to lead a better life in future.
Only way to come out of this deadlock.

Race For Space

 A few ago, subcontinental pride found anachronistic expression in a series of tit-for-tat nuclear tests. The successful launching into space of a Chinese astronaut has presented us with yet another avenue for the misdirection of patriotic fervour and precious national resources. In addition, the Chinese have also announced their intention of putting their men on the Moon by 2010.

Forty years after Yuri Gagarin walked in space, a manned space flight has largely symbolic value. Yet it is a lamentable reflection on human nature that symbols are only too readily clutched at by countries whose stock in international affairs is lower than what bitter pride would have. Fears abound, therefore, of a "space-race" that promises to derail economic and human development in the region.

`Colonisation of space'

While the U.S. has not exactly been caught off-guard by this development, China's plans for the Moon have challenged its own illogical sense of proprietorship over that piece of rock. Even a superficial study of the history of the last few centuries should suffice to convince us that the "colonisation of space" is more than a metaphor — it represents the perfect logical extension of the Western ideology of possession or expropriation by money or might. Conjoined with the happy philosophy that all resources are fair game for exploitation, it explains the U.S. anxiety over the prospect of "ceding" territory to a rival enterprise, even if the resources of the territory in question have not till date been established to be useful (a lesson the Soviets learnt the hard way after selling Alaska for a song).

Actually, though, it has been suggested that the Moon represents a good source of Helium3, an isotope of helium, considered to be the ideal fuel for controlled nuclear fusion, which promises to be a "clean" energy source. While the idea of a space battle over mining rights on the Moon may seem far-fetched, it is only because space travel has not yet developed to the point of being affordable and reliable. However, it is worth remembering that scientific advance in this century has had a tendency to be exponential, with one small breakthrough opening the floodgates for an avalanche of discoveries. The surreal nightmare of an extraterrestrial war may be upon us sooner than we think.

The intensity with which the Chinese have been pursuing their space programme over the past few years also reflects their own perception of the strategic importance of outer space in the waging of terrestrial wars, an importance that has been repeatedly underlined by recent U.S. campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, which relied heavily on satellite imaging. Already the battles of the future are being envisaged in defence establishments around the world, with talk of weapons to knock out satellites, and in turn, weapons to knock out those weapons, and so on, endlessly, in the dizzying calculations of military deterrence.

A space-race is inevitable, therefore, and it is equally inevitable that India will join in it, willy-nilly. A war without a battle lasts longer and costs more than a war with one, and we can be assured that by the time it ends (if it ever does), many millions will have sacrificed their lives to poverty for the sake of keeping the military machinery of their respective nations oiled and ready. 

Rethink On Adolescence

We Indians are an extremely sensitive race. Right from the highest echelon to the commoner, we can trace a fire before smoke billows out of it. Problem lies not in sensing but in honest admission and quick redress of the matter. For a long time we have been shying away from the fact that our society is being increasingly infected by a festering younger generation. Every time we are shocked into realisation by incidents like the recent one concerning the sexual escapade of two schoolgoers and its commodification. Undeniably, a disproportionately large section of our youngsters feed and water their thoughts, actions and conversations with `sex.'

This obsession with sex manifests itself with the diverse escapades that are coming to the fore through police raids and media led sting operations. Mobile, computers, VCDs, thanks to consumerism, have become a source of lewd entertainment. Things are changing for worse. Earlier, a "Debonair" used to be taboo for adolescents; now it is lively colourful visuals that spread MTV culture to every drawing room — without a hitch! Earlier eve-teasing meant `teasing'; now it can also mean bestial `torturing' — both mental and physical. Earlier the strayed ones frequented brothels to their own harm but now they drag out or woo young virgins to warm their beds.

Is it not time our politicians, bureaucrats, police, compradors and every other man in society woke up to brave the fact? The politicians can indeed do much more than squabbling on non-issues. Why not put all private entertainment channels under a regulatory system that would censure anything derogatory to our society? However, politicians will find little merit in this suggestion for we need FDIs, whatsoever germ it carries along! Compradors and other intermediary money makers can hardly be expected to forgo their share of profit in the name of some illusory `social responsibility.' Why not make a stricter law for them as the one recently made for fake drug manufacturers?

Ultra-caring parents

Lastly, the biggest onus lies upon the family, precisely, the parents. In an attempt to befriend their children modern parents go to any extent. They equip the latter with money, mobile and motorbike, naively believing them to be a child's fascination. These ultra-caring parents hardly believe that their highly-groomed young ones turn out of home only to pose a serious threat to society. Why filial love has only to be adjudged against material enrichment? Paradoxically most of our adolescents find a yawning psychological chasm between them and their parents. This estrangement coupled with out-of-door enticements leads to degeneration of character. This gap needs to be bridged to wean them away from the comfort of the flesh to the joy of the mind.

Any effort at censure in our country is promptly chastised by such words as `Talibanisation,' `saffronisation,' `Sanskritisation' and so on, but not a single word of disgust is muttered at naked flesh jiggling on visual screens. We raise a hue and cry on growing violence on women, on 4.58 million Indians being infected with HIV+. But this concern rises only to die down in its due time.

There is much talk about imparting value education in schools. Can a dry perfunctory lecture on righteousness make any dent in young minds when movies, music albums, mobile clippings and internets have so much stuff to offer them? Perhaps everyone, from politicians to parents, is too much bogged down by an unconscious fear of being labelled as `undemocratic,' `non-liberal,' `conservative' and `regressive.' Will it be a sin to cast off such unfounded fear and rediscover ourselves, apolitically, for a brighter and healthier future? 

What to be done? (To be or not to be!)

Robert Vanden Bosch in his book “The pesticide conspiracy” cautioned mankind in the following words:

“Nature is emitting signals warning that under the existing format the future is ominous. She is saying that we cannot continue our attempts to ruthlessly dominate her and that if we persist, disaster is in the offing. She has many voices.

Voice of the trees - Voice of the water –
Voice of the soil – Voice of the wind –

The voices of nature are quite easy to hear – If we will only listen. The question is will we? An if we do, can we overcome our corrupt ways and marshal our efforts to collaborate with nature as her brightest child and shepherd of Earth’s life system? If not, it is almost certain that things will worsen for nature but even more so for us. Then at a certain point in time, we may no longer be able to cope with the adversity and we will perish. But nature will survive”.

WE HAVE EYES, BUT WE CANNOT SEE; WE HAVE EARS BUT WE CANNOT HEAR. THIS IS GREEK TRAGEDY: OUR SOCIETY HAS BLINDED ITS OWN EYES

World Beyond Caste

WE DO not belong to any religion or caste. We are bound not by gods or myths, but by a distinct set of living practices. Religion is nothing but a distinct way of living and caste is simply your present job. Doesn't it sound strange?

Does treating religion or caste from this new perspective bring any difference? The answer is `yes.' A strong binding to the religion or caste may make some blind. Though none of the holy books speaks of violence required to safeguard the image of their religion, some selfish leaders promote it to bring a mad unity among masses for self elevation. This madness has massacred many innocents in various communal riots in India. The same madness has destroyed invaluable glorious monuments and constructions.

The human civilization began thousands of years ago. It underwent many turmoils and raises and finally resulted in today's societal life. People living in a specified geographical region followed a set of practices. These regions were highly isolated. Each of these specific groups formed one religion. To create a cordial environment, the people in that group set some rules and regulations. They also followed systematic practices. So, logically, religion is a distinct way of living followed by a section of people.

Society is composed of people with different attitudes. It accommodates people from diversified races, income levels, age groups, etc. Living together needs some discipline. A societal life demands a lot of self controls. This is akin to following the traffic rules. Violation of traffic rule by one results in accidents to many. It disrupts the traffic and creates chaos at crossroads.

In olden days, science was communicated to the people in the name of god. For example, Hindus use turmeric in daily life. Turmeric possesses anti-bacterial properties and kills harmful microbes. This message could not be communicated to people with a scientific reason. People were not educated to believe that micro organisms also exist with us. Therefore, turmeric was always associated with goddesses. Its use was promoted by projecting it as a symbol of divinity. Similarly, Muslims fast during the month of Ramzan. This commits them to bind to their decision firmly. Not taking water and food during the day enhances their tolerance. Though all these are practised in the name of god, they have scientific reasons to justify.

Similar practices exist in all religions. Some people like the living practices followed by others and shift to that. It need not necessarily be changing religion. When we think that we are not bound by a religion but by a set of living practices, we start searching for good practices in other communities also. If we appreciate a practice followed by others, we can simply adopt it. There is no reason to hesitate. Ultimately, what we want is `a set of best living practices.'

Our society believes that the character of a person is governed by his caste. Basing on the past examples, society has standardized or productized the behaviors of people belonging to a particular caste.

The caste system evolved long back. People took up different activities to make their village self-sufficient. The activities were selected basing on their interest and skill. Barter system allowed them to exchange their services and products. As joint family system was in vogue and society was introverted, the new generation adopted the same skills from their parents. This balanced artisan system has continued for centuries and is still continuing in many villages.

Logically, "what job you are in" decides your caste. If the same logic applies today, then the new castes are bankers, software engineers, lawyers, doctors, pilots, politicians, etc. Probably, these new castes will not erode anyone's dignity of labour. Even if it does, then the next generation has the flexibility of changing their caste. A lawyer's son completes the medicine course and since then his caste name is `Doctors.'

A person needs to be judged based on his own behaviour, not by his caste or religion. In this liberalized and urbanized world, people are no longer living in closed societies. Nuclear families, immigration, cyber friendship, International TV channels contribute a lot to multi-cultural behavior in humans.

The religion or caste system should bring harmony among humans rather than ripping them apart.

Needless to say, this concept is utopian. However, a small thought process towards this would make us realize how self-centric and narrow-minded we are. One step towards this ideology is sufficient for building a peaceful and fearless society on earth.