Let ,peace in IIT Madras campus return

Let not the students and the authorities of IIT Madras stand on prestige and delay the restoration of peace in the campus . Political parties support need not embolden the students to resort to rigid attitude during .negotiations . The aggrieved IIT Madras students should never be carried away by political parties support for their struggle against freedom of speech and thought . Political parties are only interested in creating opportunities for prolonging the confusion and the agitation of the students with different motives. IIT is a centre of learning . Peace in the campus should return as early as possible and the students return to their main task . If the authorities call them for a negotiation through talk they should respond to it and handle the procedures in mature way without sacrificing their core demand and help the authorities to solve the problem without standing on prestige and without yielding to the promises of political parties to support them in case the problem continues.'' Let the management respect the student’s rights related to free thinking, learning and expression and let the students respect the guidelines meant for orderly running of an institution .The Students have registered their protest and succeeded in getting wider media coverage and support from various quarters for their genuine grievance . Now, let peace in the campus return , so that, the learning days are not wasted after free discussion over the problem take place and solution arrived at .

365 days of Modi government’s performance

< 365 days of Modi government’s performance -Published in Beyond Headlines, An online magazine on May 27th I was really wondering why do the electronic media got into frenzy and running several hours of discussion on Modi’s 365 days of governance and the print media is publishing endless articles on the same subject. The politicians, senior journalists, the ex beauracrates, columnists, academicians, freelance writers and bloggers are into these discussions untiringly in the last one week. My rational mind was telling me, “How is it possible for any government to have concrete achievements in all the sectors within one year of their government after several years of policy paralysis?” My opinion was that, it is too early to pass a judgment on the performance of the new government. But soon I had to change my opinion, because there seems to be a logic in the argument of the analysts that, the government need not show any record of achievements within a year, but, there should be at least some symptoms to show that they are in the right direction so that, what all they promised can be achieved within their term of administration. More over, it is understood that the people are not anxious to compare the performance of the previous and the present government’s but, between the tall promises given by Modi during his hectic election campaigns and the symptoms of fulfillment of those promises which were tall and plenty. Moreover, if there is too much criticism in the assessment of their performance, only the PM Modi and his team are to be blamed. It is because, PM Modi was in the habit of making tall and absurd statements in foreign soils regarding the performance of the previous governments as if India remained an under development nation during their rule and he is going to convert it into a develped nation very quickly by all his reform measures. Can any responsible PM fail to give credit to the previous regimes for what ever achievements in several sectors and made this nation self sufficient in several goods and services and could reach 8.5% rate growth at one stage? Of course no body is denying the fact that, the Prime Minister with brutal majority in the lok Sabha , a week opposition, unquestioned centralised power vested on him by his party and with power of articulation can do wonders unlike the previous UPA government which was paralysed by coalition politics and dual power centers . But it doesn’t mean that the NDA can govern with talk alone without being accompanied by concrete results in the economic and social fronts. Look at the list of gaps between the promises and achievements • Has PM Modi succeeded in removing the hurdles in the way of ease doing business after appealing thunderously to the foreign investors to make it in India? Are they not waiting patiently for some evidence of reforms in the way of ease doing business? • What is the benefit India got by all those grand functions or melas arranged for meeting the insecure NRIs other tan the extensive media coverage which • Is the corporate sector satisfied with speed of required reforms which were promised to them before the election? • Is the farm sector happy with the dangerous provisions of the Land Acquisition Bill and the failure to ensure control over the input prices, poor compensation for natural calamities and inadequate farm income? • Is the youth satisfied with the job creation speed which was promised to get accelerated with tremendous increase in domestic and foreign investment? • Has the trade deficit between China and India and with some other countries narrowed down by his “successful trips” to half a dozen advanced countries? • Are the HRD ministry’s various directions satisfying the academicians who are worried about the hidden agenda to saffronise the education sector? • Are the state governments happy over the reduction of central funds for the social sectors? • Can they claim that, the corruption at all levels of governance is controlled just because there is no out break of scam at the central government level? • What has happened to the tallest promise of Modi regarding black money? • Is it enough to coin slogan after slogan and create photo opportunities and give wide publicity as if river Ganga can be cleaned and the whole nation is going to become clean and toilets facilities are to be created over night through a magial wand? • Is the PM happy with fact that he has made more a speeches abroad than at home (in the Parliament particularly) in the first five months of his term? ’ Is his Cabinet ministers and the beauracracy satisfied with his centralized or unitary style governance? • Has he got any right to say in a foreign soil that the Indians were so far ,ashamed to call themselves Indians and now only their prestige is restored (after he started ruling India) ? Is it not a most dishonorable statement made about 1. 3 billion Indians? • Do the minorities feel safe and secure under his rule? • Is it alright to centralise all the powers with him without trusting his cabinet colleagues in a democracy? • Is it alright to concentrate only on foreign affairs when urgent domestic problems wait in the queue for urgent solutions? • Is the PM really thinking that the common people are very pleased with the announcements regarding grand statues, tube trains, smart cities clean India and Ganga campaigns and indifference to the growing number of farmers suicide? • Is he not in a position to feel the under current of anger regarding soaring retail prices, corruption at every level of governance and delay in removing obstacles to job growth? • Why the RTI commissioner is not yet appointed and not any announcement made about the much promised Lok pal and three election commissioners posts not filled up? There are thus endless questions that are to be answered by the ruling party. What is the need to spend money, time and energy on celebrating their one year stay in power? Is it possible to fool all the people all the time using the power of articulation alone? When will the aggressive BJP spokespersons appearing in the media 24x7 hours learn that “actions will speak louder than words?” The middle and poor classes , care a damn about macro variables like GDP , Whole Sale Price Index, current rupee value, FDI inflow, quantum of black money likely to be unearthed (God only knows when ) trades and budget deficits, Standard and Poor rating of India , IMF certificate on Indian economic indicators ,Obama’s article on Modi and the NRI’s glorification of Modi , Gar Vapsi programme, Ram Mandir construction, remove of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, introduction of common civil code( just to irritate the Muslims ) . FDI in retail trade etc. For the common people , any government which provides them adequate water ,electricity, shelter, affordable food price, education and health facilities , job for their youth, security for women , care for elderly, removal of corruption at lower levels and priority to agricultural and social sector’s hitherto neglected needs is a good government . Such governments they will elect repeatedly. Other wise they will use the powerful weapon of vote to dethrone them with single digit MP seats in the next election No government can expect to remain in power for a along time with grand slogans , self praise and constant rhetoric alone. Is not history the great teacher to our political bosses? To become a popular government, the BJP should set their priories right taking into consideration the basic and urgent needs of the people. Statues, smart cities, tube trains and endless foreign trips by those in charge of governance can wait.

365 days of Modi government’s performance

365 days of Modi government’s performance (published In Beyond Head Lines, an online magazine on 27th May I was really wondering why do the electronic media got into frenzy and running several hours of discussion on Modi’s 365 days of governance and the print media is publishing endless articles on the same subject. The politicians, senior journalists, the ex beauracrates, columnists, academicians, freelance writers and bloggers are into these discussions untiringly in the last one week. My rational mind was telling me, “How is it possible for any government to have concrete achievements in all the sectors within one year of their government after several years of policy paralysis?” My opinion was that, it is too early to pass a judgment on the performance of the new government. But soon I had to change my opinion, because there seems to be a logic in the argument of the analysts that, the government need not show any record of achievements within a year, but, there should be at least some symptoms to show that they are in the right direction so that, what all they promised can be achieved within their term of administration. More over, it is understood that the people are not anxious to compare the performance of the previous and the present government’s but, between the tall promises given by Modi during his hectic election campaigns and the symptoms of fulfillment of those promises which were tall and plenty. Moreover, if there is too much criticism in the assessment of their performance, only the PM Modi and his team are to be blamed. It is because, PM Modi was in the habit of making tall and absurd statements in foreign soils regarding the performance of the previous governments as if India remained an under development nation during their rule and he is going to convert it into a developed nation very quickly by all his reform measures. Can any responsible PM fail to give credit to the previous regimes for what ever achievements in several sectors and made this nation self sufficient in several goods and services and could reach 8.5% rate growth at one stage? Of course no body is denying the fact that, the Prime Minister with brutal majority in the lok Sabha , a week opposition, unquestioned centralised power vested on him by his party and with power of articulation can do wonders unlike the previous UPA government which was paralysed by coalition politics and dual power centers . But it doesn’t mean that the NDA can govern with talk alone without being accompanied by concrete results in the economic and social fronts. Look at the list of gaps between the promises and achievements • Has PM Modi succeeded in removing the hurdles in the way of ease doing business after appealing thunderously to the foreign investors to make it in India? Are they not waiting patiently for some evidence of reforms in the way of ease doing business? • What is the benefit India got by all those grand functions or melas arranged for meeting the insecure NRIs other tan the extensive media coverage which • Is the corporate sector satisfied with speed of required reforms which were promised to them before the election? • Is the farm sector happy with the dangerous provisions of the Land Acquisition Bill and the failure to ensure control over the input prices, poor compensation for natural calamities and inadequate farm income? • Is the youth satisfied with the job creation speed which was promised to get accelerated with tremendous increase in domestic and foreign investment? • Has the trade deficit between China and India and with some other countries narrowed down by his “successful trips” to half a dozen advanced countries? • Are the HRD ministry’s various directions satisfying the academicians who are worried about the hidden agenda to saffronise the education sector? • Are the state governments happy over the reduction of central funds for the social sectors? • Can they claim that, the corruption at all levels of governance is controlled just because there is no out break of scam at the central government level? • What has happened to the tallest promise of Modi regarding black money? • Is it enough to coin slogan after slogan and create photo opportunities and give wide publicity as if river Ganga can be cleaned and the whole nation is going to become clean and toilets facilities are to be created over night through a magical wand? • Is the PM happy with fact that he has made more a speeches abroad than at home (in the Parliament particularly) in the first five months of his term? ’ Is his Cabinet ministers and the bureaucracy satisfied with his centralized or unitary style governance? • Has he got any right to say in a foreign soil that the Indians were so far ,ashamed to call themselves Indians and now only their prestige is restored (after he started ruling India) ? Is it not a most dishonorable statement made about 1. 3 billion Indians? • Do the minorities feel safe and secure under his rule? • Is it alright to centralise all the powers with him without trusting his cabinet colleagues in a democracy? • Is it alright to concentrate only on foreign affairs when urgent domestic problems wait in the queue for urgent solutions? • Is the PM really thinking that the common people are very pleased with the announcements regarding grand statues, tube trains, smart cities clean India and Ganga campaigns and indifference to the growing number of farmers suicide? • Is he not in a position to feel the under current of anger regarding soaring retail prices, corruption at every level of governance and delay in removing obstacles to job growth? • Why the RTI commissioner is not yet appointed and not any announcement made about the much promised Lok pal and three election commissioners posts not filled up? There are thus endless questions that are to be answered by the ruling party. What is the need to spend money, time and energy on celebrating their one year stay in power? Is it possible to fool all the people all the time using the power of articulation alone? When will the aggressive BJP spokespersons appearing in the media 24x7 hours learn that “actions will speak louder than words?” The middle and poor classes , care a damn about macro variables like GDP , Whole Sale Price Index, current rupee value, FDI inflow, quantum of black money likely to be unearthed (God only knows when ) trades and budget deficits, Standard and Poor rating of India , IMF certificate on Indian economic indicators ,Obama’s article on Modi and the NRI’s glorification of Modi , Gar Vapsi programme, Ram Mandir construction, remove of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, introduction of common civil code( just to irritate the Muslims ) . FDI in retail trade etc. For the common people , any government which provides them adequate water ,electricity, shelter, affordable food price, education and health facilities , job for their youth, security for women , care for elderly, removal of corruption at lower levels and priority to agricultural and social sector’s hitherto neglected needs is a good government . Such governments they will elect repeatedly. Other wise they will use the powerful weapon of vote to dethrone them with single digit MP seats in the next election No government can expect to remain in power for a along time with grand slogans , self praise and constant rhetoric alone. Is not history the great teacher to our political bosses? To become a popular government, the BJP should set their priories right taking into consideration the basic and urgent needs of the people. Statues, smart cities, tube trains and endless foreign trips by those in charge of governance can wait.

The IIT Madras controversy

HRD ministry is an important ministry. It should not have acted in this careless manner Human resource development process includes the methods to facilitate free thinking and free expression on matters of historic, social, cultural and economic and political matters . On the one side The BJP is making bombastic announcement about Skill development among the youth and on the other hand wants to kill the free thinking and analytical skills of the students who are interested in learning and discussing about the various ideologies of the thinkers of India . if the IIT authorities are willingly want to surrender their autonomy to the whims and fancies of intolerant political leaders , instead of protection the students right to seek knowledge from various sources , it is a sad day for higher education position in India. How many times any central ministry has given attention to unanimous letters complaining about something and taken such a speedy action ? It is very sad day that the Madras IIT Director has taken immediate action on the students study circle, instead of defending their right to learn different ideologies of great thinkers of India, discuss about them and express their opinion of them . People who constantly criticise the Emergency declaration by Indira Gandhi can not stealthily and slowly introduce undemocratic methods . If the student’s right to free expression on any matter is stiffed in this manner , the BJP should stop talking about quality of higher education.

discrimination against Muslims in India

Often, the Muslims are blamed for not integrating themselves with the mainstream in several fields. It is not the Muslims who do not want to be get integrated with the mainstream . It is the discriminatory treatment given to them has created the gap between the Muslim and other communities . The columnists touches this topic only when a celebrity Muslim is shabbily treated . The endemic discrimination against Muslims is not found in the matter of renting and or buying a house alon. The the Indian Muslims are patiently and helplessly bearing the discrimination in matters of education., employment through recruitment particularly ,to government or public sector jobs , business contracts , bank credit, choice of candidates during elections etc. The Sachar Committee has highlighted this matter clearly. The Hindutva groups have succeeded in creating an aversion in the minds of even the educated youth of the majority communities by their relentless propaganda against the Indian Muslims For the next four years ,we are going to see high level insecurity creeping in the minds of Muslims due to several measures that are likely to be taken by the central and some state governments to alienate the Muslim community further . Yes, the problem is endemic and the Muslims are not hopeful of any solutions in the near future due to the week position of the secular political parties in the current Indian political scenario .

A transformation from conservative women to the wow woman of today Published in Woman’s Era on november 2014

 A transformation from conservative women to the wow woman of today

Published in Woman’s Era  on november 2014     

The transformation of 21^st century women is outstanding, remarkable and praise worthy.

The transformation, which has taken place among women in the recent decades, is very note worthy. What changes have taken place in them?

The wow women of today want to change their traditional look to modern look through awareness about fashions, beauty care and exercises. They enroll into fitness programmes to maintain perfect vital statistics so that they can command admiration in the outside world for the prefect maintenance of their body and health status. This change in their appearance gives them self confidence and adds to their personality development. .

They are not anymore continuing the practice of self neglect through eating late food, left out food, cold food and resorting to home remedy during sickness and loosing interest in their personal appearance after marriage. The dynamic women of today have health awareness since they are not prepared to become unproductive due to aches and pains and become out of shape immediately after childbirth. They are not prepared to have children by chance but by choice. They want to play dual role as housewife and carrier women and to do the juggling act effectively, it is very necessary for them to become physically fit and hence , they have health awareness regarding  preventive, promotive and curative health care and about the need for blanked diet .

The present day women do not have   traditional outlook towards life which accepts fatalism. They want to face challenges of life with their wisdom and skills. Quite a number of women are even ready to become single mothers if misfortune strikes them and bring up their children successfully.   Hence some changes have taken place in their mental attitude. They are not ready to tolerate denial of basic rights or cruel or undignified treatment by their husbands.   Because of this change they are free from suicidal tendencies and not afraid to face crises of life. Their independent income enables them to   face the challenges of life with courage and confidence and even be able to live as single women or single parent with mental and physical stamina. They are very sure that, they can live without relying on the sympathy of friends or relatives.

The vibrant women of today have set a goal for their life. They chalk out a clear plan for achieving that goal which includes the type of carrier they should chose to get economic empowerment and security and suitable choice of a professional qualification they should obtain to get into that job. Women who are not having professional qualification prefer home based business in which they can use any special job skill they have. Since the household gadgets have made their house hold work easier, they get more leisure hours which they want to utilise for achieving their goals in life in addition to bearing and rearing of children. Hence they use their spare time to acquire certain skills so that they can become self employed and add to the family income and become self reliant financially. Those who are endowed with additional qualification  in finance, accounting, marketing, administration, public relation , forecasting, export management, foreign affairs  etc., land up in high profile jobs  in the corporate of r government sectors .Behind all these efforts is their aspiration to become,  economically independent by all means  because ,they firmly believe that yesteryears women suffered silently due to excessive financial dependency on men  during different stages of their life.  They also believe firmly that financial independence is the first step towards their economic and social security which would protect them from domestic violence and ensure dignified life.

The modern women have legal awareness. They are aware of the laws of this country, meant to protect them, their provisions and recourse to them. . Hence they are not prepared any more to accept cruel treatment by their life partners. They walk out of marriages without minding the society’s views because of financial self reliance and the confidence gained through it. . Sociologists say that over confidence among modern women has resulted in more number of divorces affecting children mostly since thy have to loose one parent. This point should be given due consideration by the empowered women. But if the marriage has reached point of no return, they have to take a bold decision in the interest of the children instead of suffering in silence as yester years women and attempt to suicide and protect the children to from unhealthy and suffocating environment

.

 The modern women want to participate in decision making process within the family and in the work place. They have learnt to fight for their right and assert their opinions in places where they have a role to play. Hence whether it is their education, marriage, child birth, carrier, and property they want their voice to be heard while the family takes decisions on these matters it is because, they hate to live like doormats, when they are also contribution significantly to the family income.  The modern women want to enter politics which is male dominated at present because, they want to become MLAs, MPs and Ministers so that, they can participate in law making process. They are fed up with the fact that all the women oriented laws are also enacted without consulting women. 

They have become fond of demonstrating their self confidence by managing outside activities without being escorted by men, all the time. To enable them to achieve this end quit a  number of confident and fearless women own and drive  their own vehicles . To them, this is a first step towards liberation from men and a major sign of empowerment.

Many number of working women in high profile jobs in the financial, banking, and corporate, educational and health sectors have high level of professional attitude since they are ambitious to reach the top level in their carrier, They constantly upgrade their job skill and have high level performance in their respective professions in spite of glass ceiling they have to cross. They are making best use of certain skills which women naturally possess such as, time management, multi tasking, team management and communication and crisis management skill .The modern WOW women basically believe that they endowed with equal intelligence to deal with different situations as men do.  They have perfected the act of balancing home and carrier .Hence thousand of women entrepreneurs have entered into manufacturing and service sector business units and running them successfully .Nearly 50 women in India are at the top level in the corporate sector.   These women are role models to those who want to use the resources available to them such as higher education, special job skills, time, mental and physical energy to their best advantage.

It is hoped that the steady increase in the number of such transformed women will change the son preference attitude of the Indian society which is based on the belief that women are liabilities and hence a wasteful resource. Hope, the new generation men will recognise the potentialities of women and treat them with equity and dignity. .Such women become asset to the family, society and the nation through playing effectively their social, political, economic roles.