I have nothing much to add on this except for few lines.
Moguls some groups gloat about were none but Afghans in whose terror reign of a couple of centuries in India, thousands of Hindu temples were razed, Hindu women taken into harems by hoards, and India ravaged and ransacked. The bloody massacres continued for generations. Today the places of worship they raised stand on desecrated Hindu temple ruins only. Imagine the rivers of blood that had sullied our Bharat.
Indian bhais may think on that. If you have come to fall in love with our invaders because you had no choice as your way of life resembled theirs, the least you can still do is stay loyal to India.
World has dozens and dozens of Christian countries. How many Islamic nations in the world, tell me? How many Hindu countries in the world? ZERO. Nepal used to be constitutionally Hindu, but no more. India, the birth place of Dharmic religions Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism, still is a secular democratic nation, NOT SADLY A HINDU RASHTRA. What is happening to the Hindus of Af-Pak-Bangladesh we know. Decimated even as we speak of. Force-converted with daughters abducted and raped.
The recent world developments show what it takes to remain a decent population. What it is to have humanity. If all is perfect, then why should one seek REFUGE at all anywhere. Migration is difficult. Seeking asylum is not the same as migrating for other reasons.
If we do not want to sing the national anthem, if we want to applaud our adversaries winning a cricket match, if we have more sympathy for the displaced in the Middle east over the poorest of India, then we must think of emigrating from India for good. Now many Middle east nations are offering citizenships to our Indian bhais. I wonder why they are not exercising that right.
If your ancestors embraced the ways of our invaders, you will have to still face the fact that until then your forefathers were Hindu ONLY. It is by quirk of fate that you are what you are. You will have to come to terms with reality, grow some gratitude when you breathe the Indian air and drink the Indian water and eat the Indian grain and rest your body on the Indian soil. Even the god to who you claim your loyalty may want you to do this.
There is not a single Shastra Sampradhaya or dharmika the Hindu by race has not flouted as yet, on record and off the record. Why kicking up this new fuss now?!
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Every forward step a society takes has been historically met with stiff resistance only. Nothing has come easy for some of us.
Whether it was blacks fighting for their equal rights against apartheid or women suffrages claiming adult franchise, no single victory for the oppressed came without struggle or sacrifice even in the world’s largest democracy America.
In India, we have been for reforms since the times of Abolition of Sati (when Hindu women were forced to jump into the funeral pyres of their husbands and end their lives). The Independence movement in India was also coupled with achieving social justice for the reserved categories which materialized as an Act to the effect in 1947. The year truly marks freedom of many a kind.
With the temple doors flung open for the Harijan or Dalit however we may call them, a new social order began to emerge in India, much to the chagrin of those who flourished at the expense of the marginalized communities for centuries.. From then on to now, the communities who lived on the fringes have been subject to countless harassments and ridicule, belittling and discouraging them from taking bold steps forward. Mental cruelty continues to be the general methodology adopted to snuff out the self-esteem of the deprived who are finally emerging out of their shadows.
It is never easy to leave behind the slave mentality. Or what we may call the ‘the Stockholm syndrome.’ Do we Indians consider ourselves above that or are we still having a little residual Raj hangover. Just to tell someone that, ‘yes i am good, and as good as you, and may be even better than you!’ in the eye takes some courage and confidence.
Another milestone in modern Indian history was marked with women winning equal share of entitlement to family estate-property in Undivided Hindu Families (HUF). Very recently the triple talak for Indian muslim women was also squashed by law.
Which legal enactment did not make the Indian men frown? Our society reacted to every move for advancement with a convoluted response only. Very recently, we were fighting for women’s entry to Sabarimala. Without a court battle, with the emancipation and accomplishment of the Indian Nari in general, this would be a reality in under twenty to thirty years.
Forever an admirer of EVR who led the social reforms from the forefront in the state from during the times of Gandhi, today when channel surfing I came across the news that a woman Odhuvar has been appointed and a handful of OBC Archakas were also sworn in to serve as priests in the Agama temples, of course on graduating from Vedic schools.
Kudos to the government of Tamil Nadu. Normally I have reservation against Dravidian politics. But I also happen to strongly believe that a just and equitable society is the only way we can move forward. If we are to stop the nation from lapsing into civil war or chaos in future, it is imperative that we establish an order of social justice in the society in the present times.
I don’t watch tv news these days so i am not sure how much coverage this great leap to my state Tamils was reported in national media. Where credit is due, it has to be given. The southern states of India are faring well because, the political leaders from here (corrupt or otherwise) still stuck to their guns and pushed for social reforms that left leave ripple effect in the society.
The current move to introduce woman odhuvar and OBC archakas in our places of worship, can have potential to arrest conversions. If not for EVR, the entire SC/ST bunch could be converted lot today. By throwing open the temple doors and ushering them in, Periyar promised them equality and justice.
Those who work for or live in foreign countries must know: how we have to work double harder to prove that we are equally good or even better probably. Forever having lived my life in hostile territory, I can understand what it takes to arrive even at this point of a ‘test.’
May the woman odhuvar and the newly appointed OBC archakas prove their detractors wrong, with their meticulous service at the temples. This is just a beginning.
When Hindu women in India are free to divorce and marry twice, when we allow our sons to butcher and skin goats and buffalos for a livelihood at posh five star hotels and our daughters fly airplanes, we can stop short of nothing in future, when it comes to embracing all humanity as one. The Hindu hypocrisy tests our patience. Hindus cite the Mogul era for barbarity and bloodshed, but forget that the passive aggression that we had had put in practice was far more heinous. For generations some of us prospered stamping on the self-respect and dignity of a section of humanity.
To those who are since taking a shaking baby step forward, let us lend a helping hand to reach out and steady their course first.
Churchill gave Indian Union maximum five years life before we could collapse, when the British left India in 1947. Here we are today, 75 years and alive and kicking. May be the British would go bonkers but India will survive to eternity. Let us not make a similar mistake of underestimating fellow humanity. Underutilized/unearthed potential can work like a powerful fertilizer on fresh soil.
We have been wanting to free the Tamil Nadu temples’ administration from the government clutches for a while now, which is thoroughly justified in every sense. The state has no ethical or legal rights to spend the revenues from the Hindu places of worship on governance. At the same time, I can’t stop wondering whether such a temple reform as of today would have been made possible otherwise. After all, we needed a statute to open the temples to a section of humanity even in 1947. We needn’t have waited for law to enforce equal rights for one and all.
Hindu temple vandalized and destroyed just day before yesterday in Pakistan. No national news coverage.
No coverage in NDTV BBC (known for their anti-Hindu stance) (PM Modi kick BBC out of India NOW). NO coverage in Middle East.
No word from our Indian minorities. Indian muslims MUM on this strangely. Why should they open their mouth anyway. Did they ever condemn terrorism openly? Never. This silence of theirs is sickening! How many Pakis condemned the attack. Will the guilty be punished.
Shame on you playboy Imran Khan! Even your children seem to be oozing with hatred and venom.
Not even Modi’s India is giving a thought to the plight of Pak hindus. They seem to have been left to their worst fates.
No substantial news coverage in Pak. Especially Paki journalists have been maintaining a stoic silence. . The cowards could not even bring themselves to name the victims. Stopping short of mentioning the word ‘Hindu’ they clung to their ‘minority’ summation as usual. Not surprising coming from the hypocrites who reduce Hindustani music to Eastern music claiming and usurping the Hindu music for their religious purposes at the same time.
Our Indian leftist-communist secular BROTHERS suffering from worst bout of selective amnesia from yesterday. They will recover when there is anti-Hindu news to post from India shortly.
Imagine such a thing happening to ‘their’ place of worship in Hindu majority India. Nothing short of bombs will be following up in market places and railway stations.
So heartbreaking to see this video. When I see the sacrilege of the Murthis I am reminded of this adage in Thamizh, ‘Manidhan andru kollum, deivam nindru kollum.’ It means, man avenges the same day but God waits for the right time.
Sad and traumatized Hindu community of Pakistan: God save these peaceful and the only decent people of the terrorist nation. Living in fear 365 days an year, waiting for their daughters to be kidnapped, raped and converted, what these Paki Hindus are going through is something the whole world must pay attention to. It is time India absorbs them all.
Recently I was shocked to see a post in Facebook by DW that promoted polygamy citing how some women in Malaysia relished the practice in their society.
Tiqa convinced her husband to enter into a polygamous marriage, for the good of the family. Would you?
The news channel went on to appreciate how women across the world were breaking stereotypes (like this!)
No, Facebook did not think of banning the page or the news story. Human rights.
I did not read the story, I felt sick. I don’t think this post will be received well even in Arab world where things are changing.
Will Facebook be next promoting child marriage by 15 years which is also permissible in some societies. After all you guys never fail to run the life stories of dreaded extremists bringing to light their humane side.
I also got a suggestion from FB asking me to unfollow a certain page that reported on illicit religious conversions in India. It audaciously claimed that, such a step would enable me to see more posts by friends. I had the presence of mind to click the window.
This page goes by the name ‘No conversion.’ I am following this FB page for years now. It reports on the conversion mafia operating in India funded by the west. It publishes photo proofs and videos to support its claims. It is creating awareness in Hindu society as to how through bribes and brainwashing, the poorest and the vulnerable in India are conned into conversion and pulled into debt trap out of which they cannot extricate themselves ever. The page also calls the bluff of the evangelists whose missionary work includes paying visits to death beds offering miracle cure in exchange for conversion. The expose’ is stunning. Probably it is ringing alarm bells everywhere.
I wonder who gave the rights to Facebook to advise me who to follow and who to unfollow. Who are you Mark Zuckerberg to tell me what I must do. You are promoting polygamy openly in your pages and you do not ban content whose views a majority in the world do not subscribe to. But you ban Hindus who react to such vicious posts.
One gets an idea that some communities are working overtime to see that Hindu claims are nullified. Just Hindu posts are reported and removed/banned. Whereas no Hindu has the time to engage in such nefarious activities calling for ban of others anti-social posts. We utilize our valuable time for more productive issues naturally!
FB suggesting to me what to do sounds illegal to me, not just immoral and unethical. Google is manipulating us to save or rather share passwords with them, prompting us innumerable times when we try to sign into any address.
Social media giants like Facebook and those like Google are literally taking us for a ride. Still we are unable to move out of them. In today’s world, in order to keep abreast of things, we also need these cancers with us. We simply have to learn to live with these evils as we learned to do with the coronavirus.
It is time government of India pays attention to literal blackmail by these US corporations. To what extent can they be granted this leverage to undermine us as a nation. Facebook is allowing posting by those like DW their daily dosages of poison. This is like slow poisoning with arsenic: something that will not make us seek a legal ban and at the same time will do the damage it desired. BBC is openly anti-India news agency that needs to be kicked out of the country with immediate effect. Social media is a double edged sword. It is time India implements some strict regulation measures to control Facebook, Google and Twitter.
Large size families must be penalized, for stringent enforcement of population control in India.
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A Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bringing all Indian citizens under the single umbrella of a uniform statute is long overdue.
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If India is not overwhelmed outright by terror, I won’t be surprised if we are won over by population jehad. The war is already afoot in India as Hindu population continues to shrink back while non Hindus are exploding many multiple times. Would we be following in the footsteps of Egypt and Turkey before the turn of this century? Would we Hindus become minority in our own Dharmic Hindu nation someday to live at the mercy of others?
India is incomplete story, unfinished business for both the islamists and christians. India defies the Abrahamics and continues to exist in history as a predominantly Hindu nation, one of a kind barring mere Nepal.
When population control was introduced first in India, the target group was Hindus naturally. Enforcing or advising the same to the Abrahamics amounted to ‘offending their religious senses’ as per the Congress govt that had made the Hindu fertility their scape goat. While the patriotic and literate Hindus cut back on their family sizes, we saw at the same time how others were multiplying already like rats and rabbits.
The other day I was browsing through Chennai corporation website to extract my son’s birth certificate. I was shocked to find that over 30% of newborns on a June date as far back as in 1994 happened to be muslim. The chrisitian babies’ figure was normal and within bounds. But the muslim baby count far exceeded my expectation. Birth ratios for communities have to be in correlation with the population share of the respective communities, but not necessarily. The demography ratio and the percentage addition to population by each community have to be in direct proportion. In India, the minorities have the highest rates of population growth while the majority is falling back. This can mean disaster for a secular democratic nation like India. Our democracy is incumbent upon our demography, it goes without saying.
Anyone can crosscheck fact sheets in Chennai corporation website. You can extract your own birth certificate from 1960s/70s and those of your kids born after 1990. A comparative study is advised.
If this is the case of Chennai city, work out the statistics for whole of Tamil Nadu and entire India. While the Hindu families have been shrinking in size drastically, the Abrahamics have been expanding manifold during the same time. While the muslim population in India is increasing in superlatives, the chrisitians are resorting to ruthless conversions to boost their numbers. Modi’s BJP governments successfully plugged many loopholes that were flushing in dollars from the west for the christian conversion mafia operating in India. Foreign evangelists have been kept out to a good degree in recent times. While there is little success in this front, conversion is still rampant all across India without a break.
In under thirty years, there is a possibility that India will become for the first time in world history a NON HINDU majority country which is AGAINST OUR VERY GRAINS. This is the land of Dharma. I respect equality and secularism, but I wouldn’t want India to become one more islamic nation or a duplicate hallelujah country in world map. We have ample number of both chrisitian and islamic nations in the world. Nepal that used to be constitutionally Hindu is also now made secular by the communists. India that must have been constitutionally secular Hindu is steadily losing Hindu population.
What is more worrying is that, India has different statutes governing different communities. I wonder what is taking so long for the Indian government to bring everyone under a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at the earliest.
I read this social media post on one of the negative effects of having different statutes for different communities in India. This enables polygamy in India on which our leftists and communists and media have been strangely silent about. Neither can you come across our so called liberals pulling up our government when it comes to enforcement of UCC.
This could be an imaginary scenario as well but quite a legal possibility. Consider this: A senior govt servant who is muslim dies, leaving behind his four legal wives in India. Let us assume the first or the eldest legal heir/successor is 60 years old and the youngest wife is 18 years. Then theoretically the fourth and the last wife of the man could continue to draw government pension until her lifetime, The govt exchequer could be paying out the pension to one wife or other of the dead government servant close to a hundred years!
I admit I am not sure about the veracity of the story but this did make me think a lot on the urgency of introducing the UCC in India. The islamic community in Europe, America or Australia follow the law of the land and do not seek special privileges as they do in India. Indian muslims will welcome this move by Indian government with open arms. After all, when the Triple Talaq law was passed, there was wide appreciation for the same from the Indian muslims. Why underestimate them.
Similarly, any legal move aimed at curbing the exponential growth of Indian population is bound to be welcome with cheers by both Indian muslims and Indian chrisitians. The insecurity of the native Hindus will be in their consideration. Which is why I am for the population bill to be introduced by Yogi government in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
There can be a cut-off date fixed like say, 2022. A third baby born in a family could incur for the family more taxes and sops cut. The said population bill is not community-specific. The law may be applying to all Indians irrespective of your religious rooting – be it Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Sikh or Jain/Buddhist.
How unfair is it to have a big family in India:
If you have more than two kids in family born after 1990 or 2000, it means, your family is using more resources meant to be shared by other needy. Even if you have the capacity to pay for energy sources, as these are limited, you directly contribute to increased prices on account of creating artificial scarcity for resources. A three child family consumes natural resources and energy three times as much as a family with a single child. You consume more food, more power, more space, claim privileged seats in universities that could go to poorer and more deserving families. Why should the third or fourth child of a particular community be eligible to enter IIT or medical college even if the scores are good, compared to a mediocre from a two child family. Ifthe kid from single child family or two child family loses out to the brighter kid (we suppose for this case) from a three or four children family, it is very unfair. We live in a world where everything is measured and one family resorting to more consumption of any or all resources is extremely unfair. Population control has to be advised to some communities in a language that can be understandable to them, like how the UP CM is doing now. I wouldn’t suspect illiteracy to be an issue in a nation where the rural poor are very verse with smart phones and apps like whatsapp and gpay. Don’t give me that crap now!
I welcome Yogi’s move for family planning and population control one hundred percent.
At any time, India must ensure that the majority Hindu population does not dip under 75-80%. However I doubt if that is the case already.
Government of India on enforcing UCC can also propose a population control plan on lines of Yogi for implementation at national level. A breathing time can be allowed before the law is in place. The two child norm can have a cut-off date for enforcement, say somewhere in 2022/23.
‘Classical is a hoax’ claimed a Carnatic vocalist/writer.
I have always felt different about things than my friends.
Why are the colours black and white considered inauspicious by Hindus. Black especially bears the brunt but it happens to be my No.1 fave colour followed by dull tones such as grey.
Why and how did the hyena get portrayed villain in the Lion King. Why should always Lion be considered the king of the jungle. If you watch wildlife channels such as Natgeo or Animal Planet or Discovery, it is pretty evident that the male lion is no hero but feeds with the cubs on the hunt brought home by the lioness. Even the lioness waits for the hyena pack to finish the prey first if they can, lingering in the sidelines to pounce on the kill at the right moment. The hard work is done by the hyena and other scavengers and the lions mostly pride on others’ trophy. This lion-hyena angle always used to be explored by my son who’s all the way for social justice. The hierarchy we have defined for in the predatory world out there is justified neither.
Why do scorpions, centipedes, millipedes, lizards and cockroaches make us squirm. Why is it that the butterfly makes our heart flutter, not the earthworm that does the dirty but necessary work. Why do we shy away from the skunk or the porcupine.
How many nations in the world teach/tell their children the painful truth. Will American kids be told outright that they ethnic cleansed mercilessly the native Americans and are merely squatters. Will the British and other European text books explain how many ethnic races were wiped out clean by their forefathers for the spoils they loaded back in their merchant ships to sail back home. Today we talk of immigration as if we parachuted into this 21st century from nowhere.
I wouldn’t want to be drawn into Tamil Nadu politics or PSBB or Siva Shankara Baba issues. I heard a statement by a topnotch woman from the reputed school. I would like to point out that not the finest IITian until today can repeat the immaculate Stapathi engineering work of the Brahadeeshwara temple at Tanjore or for that matter, any engineering feat executed in ancient India. And these stapathis had the calculations in their head. They did not have to attend organized institutions with research labs to derive at their math. Tanjore temple by Raja Raja Chola that is a millennium old is earthquake proof with a circular base that can rock and shift. This is the secret that the Tanjore dolls hold. Which community did the Tanjore stapathis belong to. We had the Grand Anicut dam built by Karikala in the 3rd century CE. Every single ancient Hindu temple to those like heritage houses for instance of Chettinad etc., were erected by whom. India is sprinkled with ancient architectural and engineering marvels every single square kilometer east to west, north to south. May I know who were the brains behind these impossible creations. We had circular stairs in our home before it was demolished. Completely calculated and executed by an illiterate mason of those times. How he arrived at the angular steps and load bearing capacity – who can guess. Madam PSBB, detaching myself totally from political issues, I would like to bring to your attention that, your IITians and IIMs who may be products of your so-called superior and elitist schooling are fit for only one thing: when they have to be on equal footing with everyone else, they are ready to flee the country for a few extra greenbacks. I am talking about the marvelous engineering that belonged to the lowest castes of India all these centuries in which none of the upper castes partook anything. They are the brainchild of none from FCs. The men who built ships, who studied the flow of the water stream and erected wells, the men who raised great cities and townships and the men who designed the finest jewelry of precious gems and metals from the mines they unearthed and worked, the men who ran the economy and founded banking systems, the men who specialized in metallurgy and mixed minerals and practised medicine – I am sure all these did not belong to the forward community at all. Yet we had the state of art, precision technology like the Konark sun markings and the hanging pillar in Andhra. The least celebrated brains of India, today it is a shame that any particular community must try to snatch their victories and claim success for themselves. Whoever it is, I condemn such a thoughtless and horribly prejudiced statement. It shows how ignorant and shallow some minds can stay without evolution or betterment of any kind.
Well any knowledge and/or every knowhow is a treasure accumulated with practice and perfection, be it cattle rearing or costume designing or agriculture. No occupation or art is acquired without training hard. Simply every intelligence counts. When you associate a particular acumen with a overhyped community and claim to be the best among the worst lot, it means your world view is limited or distorted. You don’t take into cognizance the sum total input of the entire community who in every little/single way chip in and help sustain a society. I will have to refer again to ‘the Elephant and the blind men story.’ Staking claims of tallest order is the mindset of a meanest coward in my opinion. You have to be sick. Over politics, it is these reckless statements that hound me because they’re welcome with applause by a convoluted section among us.
What happens when our contorted education breeds this kind of one or two dimensional academics. They are good with their books but India hardly boasts of fresh innovations. Memorizing is what has been the inherent gene in some communities for centuries and that will enable them memorize to the letter t every single word in journals, magazines, textbooks, etc. The real thinking, analyzing, innovating, executing brain is not this. With this limited scope wisdom, you can at best become from the desk clerk to the CEO but not the deviser, discoverer. That’s my take in any case.
I don’t expect the state politicians to talk responsibly or sensibly but I do expect it of an educationist.
We live in a world where credit is quickly and hastily given to the superficial layer without a consideration to the actual workmen. All the science and engineering and mathematics of ancient India have been claimed ownership by one particular community which is sad. Countless nameless science and math achievers have been brushed just like that under the carpet for the reason they did not bother to document their expertise. Take the case of Bharat Natyam. Once the dance form of the Devdasis, it is not anything new. It has been in existence for eons. Only dusted now and adapted to current times.
Bhoodan movement saw landbanks that were donated by wealthiest of this country for equitable distribution to marginal farmers and the landless, to usher in a sense of justice. The banks of the Vaishyas were nationalized overnight. Princely kingdoms were taken over and even their pensions annulled. Nobody fled India because everyone gave up for India out of love for the nation. Only one group wants to leave India if they have to share everything with everyone. I am by no means casteist.
Years back I came across a thesis that, a literate gene travels 14 generations. And imagine the family trees branching thereof from both paternal and maternal sides at each level. It means, once you learn a letter, the mutation can carry your memory gene for as many generations (do the permutations and combinations for 14 generations taking in the branching families either sides). Your genes remember. From far and wide. Imagine the sum total effect on the cumulative benefit derived from two millennia of such an education even if by word of mouth for some forward communities. So that much of fixed deposit some communities are already born with. How can you even pit them against the downtrodden who are taking to books hardly in last 30-40 years. This Hindu hypocrisy is very unsettling. You are discrediting them of everything when you have had a headstart in everything: from being endowed with the best of residency in the heart of a township to education and comforts of life. The banished ones who had to fend for themselves cannot even today claim equality. Your children have to attend the creamiest schools yet you would want reservation at par with the municipal school children. How much more unfair can this world be.
These inequalities disturb me terribly. I hate both casteism and classism. If I raise this topic with friends, I risk losing them. It pains me so much that nobody is even willing to listen. When I hear my thoughts reflected in some one else’s mind and words, it brings a drop of tear to my eyes. I just stand vindicated. I know now I am not a freak for the way I feel at the bottom of my heart. The weakest and the most vulnerable always have my heart.
My maid, my ironwalah, my autowalah, even my future vettian – these are not here by their choice. They are here by BIRTH (that you cannot find in any other place on earth) because I pushed them down to this level so that I can climb up on their hunched backs. By I, I mean my ancestors/forefathers. I had to stamp down on someone and see to that they had to wait for centuries to produce a first graduate with govt quota, is proof enough of how much I have made good living at someone else’s expense all these ages… So is it not time that I feel the remorse and make some amendments long overdue?
I don’t expect anyone to grow up, because they seriously do not have it in them. If I hate India for anything, it is for this reason. I just know, someone gifted with such an empathy is a rare find. It calls for intellectual honesty, something most of us remain in denial of.
Meanwhile the preening peacock dances away as India’s national bird and the common crow stays boo-hooed. A dollop of soul searching will do everyone some good.
தங்களது இலவச ஆலோசனை எங்களுக்கு தேவை இல்லை, மன்னிக்கவும்.
Non-Resident Indians, NRIs in Middle East, repatriate their earned incomes in foreign exchange to India. Add value to Indian economy. Middle Eastern nations with whom India hardly shares a similar wavelength in most global poltiical issues, still employ a sizeable chunk of Indian population, blue collar and white collar in equal measure. India is saved a huge bother, otherwise it would be a task for the Indian government to productively engage this mammoth NRI population in Indian industry. It is a blessing that the employment scene in India is not as messy thanks to gulf job scene while at the same time India earns valueable foreign exchange from millions of expat workers gainfully employed in gulf countries. Double bonanza!
Contrast this to the NRIs from the US. Useless lot who talk big and contribute not a single penny to Indian economy. What is Sundar Pitchai doing for India. Isn’t Shiv Nadar of HCL a far better example we must all emulate. What is simply the role of the NRI Indian Americans in Indian scene than foment trouble with their volatile ideas and provocations. Will they ever return to India and try to fit back? Will their children take to living in India. In what way do these guys feel responsible contributing their unwarranted comments to events and happenings in India. Who is asking for their suggestions or remarks. What is their value edition to India sum total. Keep your dollars jingling safe in New York bro, here we in India can take care of ourselves. Don’t poke your lonnnngggggg nose into our Indian affairs. Remember you gave up your Indian passport to embrace Uncle Sam. With that you cut your umbilical cord connection with Bharat. You are welcome on OCI card, you can be our guest, make your home, enjoy our hospitality, but just like you cannot vote in Indian elections, you are not entitled to your political views on India.
Rule applies from Rajiv Malhotra to everyone. Nobody is special. Unless you are willing to live in India six monthsat least every year. Otherwise cut your nonsense and look after your own business.
In colourful vibrant India, everything has to shine a different shade. Every kinder garten kid must flutter like a butterfly in a different pinafore than the kid from a second or third neighbourhood school.
The range of secondary school education boards we boast of: Respective State boards, CBSE, ICSE, NIOS… and of course the latest IB (even though if you follow IB syllabus you will have to necessarily go for graduation to a foreign university as Indian universities do not recognize IB school certification). Not to leave out the rural municipal schools/urban corporation schools which may adopt state board stream… Where is a uniform platform to contend.
You would never know whether private buses ferry industrial workers to factories or kids to schools unless you read the nameboard, because school buses ply in all colours from yellow and blue to pink and green.
How are college campuses. How many tiers. For Tier I we have IITs and IIMs and AIIMS etc. Tier II has NIT etc., Tier III comprises other engineering and medical colleges, and so on… Every tier seems to have a qualifying entrance specific to the their layer. No standardized selection/admit procedure or test.
Hail a black tuktuk (auto rickshaw) in Delhi. In Chennai hail the yellow one and in some states of India watch out for the green ones.
This Google Image explains it all: the sizing issue we have in India is a pointer to the spate of standardization and regulation issues we have in India.
How about sizing in India. Are our brands and sizes compatible. Size XL in one brand can be size L in some brands in the country whether it is a t-shirt or trouser or kurta. You can never take the sizes for granted. Shoe sizes? Shoe size 38 in one brand and size 40 in a different brand and size 8 in a third may be the same fit! And here we have the next level of confusion. UK size or US size or Europe size??? Shoe sizes now measure from 6 to 12 (US sizes). But what is really the standard Indian size for garments or footwear.
Aerial views of geographical locations excite us always when we board a plane. The only country where the aerial view is so mixed-up, confused, hazy and clueless is India’s! I have landed in well planned and organized countries in Europe, Asia and America. I can’t help comparing and concluding that the bird’s eye view of my nation is just a sample of things to come once we land. Co-ordinated town planning and organized development missing in us so that, India is an eyesore when you look down from the skies.
Is our water consumption metered? Water is the scarcest natural resource as we know, even if replenishable. The upper middleclass among us have access to abundant piped water supply, footing a bare minimum bill (by way of a flat water tax and minimum fixed water charges), with the regular unmetered municipal/corporation water filling our basement sumps to the brim, while the lower middle/working class have to run after the water tankers. Notable is the absence of a civic water distribution system that must be in place for the poor and the neediest among us. The rural scene is unmentionably pathetic. Who are we shortchanging here. India could be the only third world nation that does not meter water. Go see the European nations and America my dear countrymen and government. Not even a glass of water is free even in restaurants where it is always free in India wherever you go, especially in restaurants.
What about a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for all Indian citizens, the most important of all. Why do we have separate laws governing followers of different faiths. High time everyone is brought under the single umbrella of a uniform statute. Are you hearing me pseudo liberals and leftists. Or are you having your moment of selective amnesia. Dear Indian bhais, do you enjoy special religious laws in the US and in European countries. Can you have four wives as per laws in the west. Whereas in India, I recently chanced upon some real life cases. Legally sanctioned. A muslim man who retired as govt servant left behind four wives. After him his pension was drawn by his first wife, then second, then after her the third and then finally the last who was only 20 when she married the old man. The man’s four wives were drawing more pension for longest number of years than the man’s service record, close to over half a century. In which country on earth is this possible including in middle eastern.
Is there anything in India that is properly standardized, regulated. Anything at all streamlined effectively and hassle-free that you can go about your exercise without a bottleneck.
Conforming to uniform national standards across the board will be a national benchmark. It will be a day of reckoning in Indian history.
Until recently before GST was introduced, even the Sales taxes and Excise duties varied from state to state on crossing border. Now with the imposition of a uniform tariff, long queues in checkposts are eliminated. Some attempt at regularization of revenues, a commendable attempt! Seamless pan India trucking for all-India permit holders. The fuel and time and charges and manpower saved!
Aadhar unique ID and PAN (Personal Assessment Number (for Income Tax)) are like baby steps at standardization/regularization and linking of both may not be a hundred percent foolproof method to prevent loopholes but may go a long way in preventing duplication of accounts and hoarding of black money.
Driving licences and Passports were easiest to standardize and centralize.
Voters IDs have some regional input like the PDS Family cards.
Without standardizing education, some learned so-called pundits talk about reservation. Yes, reservation in India is possible when every kid in India either attends the neighbourhood creamy academy or the municipal school uniformly. When the differences start as early as in kinder garten, there is no way we can suspend reservation quotas in India for the moment. Privileged classes have to make amends to accommodate the under-privileged to usher in some sense of social justice in the country. Reservation is merely a compensatory pay-out.
NEET may be a bold step towards regularization of admit of candidates to our medical universities even if it may pit our rural aspirants in a disadvantageous position.
At a very slow pace, India is going for standardization across the board.
Is standardization/regulation not possible at all in a country like India. Remote chances even if a country seven times as large as India, the United States has managed to achieve sort of an equilibrium, so to say. In India, the differences are culturally rooted and have been in place for centuries. We will have to work harder and with sincerity to weed out the discriminating factors dividing the society.
Only a satisfactorily literate society can realize the objective goals of a flourishing economy. In such an event, standardization is the natural outcome. A free and fair economy is possible when we have level playing ground for everyone in our country.
It takes a strong will on the part of administration/government to enforce laws to standardize our economy notwithstanding criticisms.
Inclusive growth is the only way to grow uniformly and evenly. Over next few years, hopefully we can count on more standardization and regulation-regularization enforcements for bringing in equality and social justice across the spectrum.
As thousands of lives get lost in this horrifying second wave of Corona pandemic, it may probably sound improper if we mention loss of knowledge and knowhow accumulation herewith. .
I am thinking of the higher secondary school students who have never been in the Physics lab, Chemistry lab, Botany lab or Zoology lab. I am talking about Engineering students who have not touched a lathe/machinery or nut-bolt in the Mechanical lab, not held a test tube or conical flask in their hands in the Chemical lab, not been on industrial tours or construction sites, not bisected a frog or reptile. I am concerned of the medical/ dental/ veterinary students who may be missing their autonomy classes vital to mastering physiology, their OP ward hands-on experience that can hone their diagnosis skills, semester examinations and of course the crucial internships that may initiate them as serving physicians in their chosen medical profession… What a tremendous loss to humanity! Can we even quantify this knowledge and expertise loss across India! Very unlucky batches, those that are caught in-between.
Many wonder aloud about school kids studying at home. I have no problem with that as my son had homeschooled under me in Malaysia upto standard two. The only issue may be fitting into classrooms when it is time for the children to go back to schools. The younger ones can adapt very fast to changing scenarios unlike us adults. The one problem I do foresee is the toilet training. This requires disciplining from early years controlling bladder from kinder garten. A second one could be relating to the morning routines and time-keeping/punctuality apart from eating habits, keeping hygiene and grooming neat. But none of this is unmanageable.
There are mentions of severe neck pain and even rare cases of vertigo in young children and teenagers who are learning from home online without attending schools in last 1.5 years. These are the ones glued to their mobile phone and computers for hours with incorrect posture that can injure their spine. This is an area that we must focus on apart from the mental health of the children who are denied their outdoor playing time and extra-curricular activities that may require physical attendance. Vitamin D from direct sunlight which is essential for bone growth is denied to growing kids. Last but not the least is the human touch to holistic education which is absent with the teachers staying home and schools closed. Online classes may hardly replace the classroom teacher parked in front of the blackboard.
Vocational courses have born the brunt of the covid 19 lockdowns that shut practical classes to their students. These include semi-skilled professions like plumbing, electricals, electronics, carpentry, air conditioning etc.
Fortunate are the school and university students in commerce stream who are least affected by the covid 19 effect on their education.
The computer students seem to be faring okay given the conditions after the accounting ones and arts & literature graduates.
Campus interviews have not been happening, and if they do happen fail to materialize into concrete appointments for fresh graduates. Those who wish to pursue higher education are left in the quandary unable to decide as job prospects grow dim. Even if this can be a temporary phase in our lives, covid impact will stay with us for a long time to come.
Medical and engineering aspirants in present times can seriously contemplate taking a break after finishing school until situation gets normal in an year or two. In my personal opinion this will be a better and thoughtful choice over missing valuable classes.
How to make best of the circumstances is what the academic institutions must focus on. Will it be possible to open up science and tech labs to staggered batches of students.
The years 2020 and 2021 need to be written off from the Biodata and CV of all those pursuing higher secondary school education, undergrad and postgrad courses in universities. Employers need to relax their prerequisites such as job experience when it comes to recruitments.
The restless teenagers need to be handled with care. They are at the threshold of their adulthood and they must not be allowed to lose their hope. It is important to engage them fruitfully in alternate activities and keep up their spirits.
Let us cheer our younger generation and not allow them to wither before they bloom. Looking forward to a bright and cheeful future!
Extremely pained by the recent offshore oil rig crash in Bombay High.
The Ambanis in India seem to be landing the easiest rigs while the govt servants like ONGC get to work the toughest rigs (politics the reason). The ones that crashed in recent Mumbai rains were temporary barges erected with stringent orders to demobilize manpower/labour in case of any emergency at a short notice. Safety is part and parcel of Oil & Gas and also Civil (Industrial/Heavy) Engineering. I am hearing of its importance for last 25 years plus. Everyday is a new day and the safety is of highest order never to be accorded secondary place. There is a full fledged Safety department in all these areas of works and manpower training in safety is also accorded topmost priority. Safety meetings are part of everyday work. Never have I heard of compromise in safety standards in foreign countries. Safety protocol is strictly adhered to to the letter ‘t’. However in India, human life is of inconsequence – with zero value. Sab chaltha hai. Nobody cares. Flouting of safety procedures is routine.
Evacuation/Demobilization of manpower from the crashed oil rigs at Mumbai high was not allegedly carried out in emergency situation (cyclonic storm Touktae). A reported 60 valuable engineers have gone missing from the rigs that collapsed, that breaks our hearts here. Over a hundred more stationed in the oil platforms were rescued in heavy downpour by the Navy. Figure for casualty reported in media is far from accurate. Those who lost their lives must have had a very torturous death. Is this what engineers/government servants deserve in my country. Battered and weakened by corona, such a preventable accident is the last thing that we must have let to have happened.
vijiravindran's 