Incredible India !

Politicians in India are very fond of placing their foot in their mouth. They say something to the media while reacting to a situation and later very conveniently retract by saying that media hasn't put across their POV correctly. This disease is rampant in almost all political parties. In fact, they have become very efficient in politicising any issue, be it recent floods of Uttrakhand, mid-day meal deaths in Bihar or killing of Jawans by Pak Army in J&K sector. 

How ridiculous it is to say that Jawans are paid to die? Or criticising the agitation by the family of a martyr by a minister in Bihar is absolutely rubbish. Such things can only reflect the poor quality of people's representatives in India. 

India is a unique example of unity in diversity with 29 States & 06 Union Territories, 1652 languages, 6400 castes, 6 major religions and equal number of ethnic groups. Similarly, despite our Netas having diverse views on National Security, social and ethnic issues are all united for their personal gains as they can enhance their pay, perks and privileges at their free will anytime. They can take a decision in unison to keep political parties out of the ambit of RTI. But, they have no harmony on Food Security Bill. How ridiculous it was on the part of Planning Commission to say that people with daily income of Rs 27.2/ day in rural areas and Rs 33.3/day in Urban areas, be treated as APL. Our Netas had been claiming that a wholesome meal only costs Rs 12-17, whereas, Lok Sabha Canteen is extending subsidy to them to the tune of lacs of Rupees/day. 

It is a unique feature in India that Netas with tainted image, with criminal records and cases of corruption and disproportionate assets pending against them, are decision makers. In coalition politics DA cases are withdrawn by the govt so that the collaborating political parties can keep supporting the Govt. Is it not a black mail?

Scams after scams have been unfolded over the recent years. To name a few: Chara Ghotala, CWG scam, 2G scam, Coalgate scam, and so on. But, not even one person has been convicted so far and sent to jail. Kanimozhi, D Raja and Suresh Kalmadi must've had spent a few months in jail but when they came out on bail, they were given a heroic welcome by party workers. Now, they are all roaming freely without any shame as they fully know that their cases too, shall fade away from the memories of the people as other cases of the past due to the mere character of our Investigation Agencies and judicial delays. Politicians, therefore rightfully do not want autonomous status for CBI! Therefore, in the end I sum up by saying that such things can only happen in India. Isn't India really Incredible?

Disaster Management: Is India really geared up?

In 2001, Gujarat witnessed a devastating Earthquake which had its worst effect in Bhuj (Kachchh) region. It was at this juncture, the Govt of India felt a need to streamline the procedure for disaster management. In 2005, Disaster Management Act was enacted which led to evolution of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) headed by the Prime Minister. Later, each state formed SDMA of their own in a varying time frame headed by respective Chief Ministers. 8 units of NDRF were initially created and located in the critical areas for rapid response.  Considering the size of India and diversity of disasters, resources so created are highly inadequate. Presently, man made disasters have overshadowed natural calamities. Hence, dependence on Armed Forces and other Security Forces for relief and rescue operations has continued as hither-to-fore. 

A lot needs to be learnt from the recent fury of rains and floods in Uttrakhand and Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. Though, everyone says it was a natural calamity, but I don't agree with it. As per my opinion, it was a man made disaster as we have been tempering with the nature to an extreme extent to satisfy insatiable greed of our politicians, babus at various levels and of course handful of businessmen who had been abetting anti-nature activities by flouting environmental norms. In fact illegal construction activities, illegal mining activities , violation of construction laws and by-laws , land grabbing, uncontrolled and unregistered tourism and religious pilgrimages etc. have led to the problems.

I witnessed the relief and rescue operations from a close angle by virtue of my presence in the affected area during the period. Certain very alarming issues emerged during the fortnight long rescue operations are as follows:

• Lack of alarm/early warning system to caution people , both locals and outsiders, to remain aware and cautious due to heavy rains,  led to heavy casualties. In India, even the weather forecast are considered unreliable and people do not take them seriously. 

•  Unchecked influx of tourists and pilgrims have rendered civil administration unwary of the total number of people affected by the disaster till even today.

•  Failure of Govt machinery to assess the quantum of damage in both the states led to late start of relief and rescue operations. In fact, effective operations could only start on the 3rd day. Initially, helicopters operating in the area faced fuel shortage due to poor planning. Lack of helipads and open spaces suitable to be used  as helipads adversely affected the relief and rescue operations. Majority of open spaces in Uttrakhand have been grabbed by land mafia and are being used for commercial purposes. 

•  Initial lack of coordination between various agencies operating in the area was a serious setback to rescue operations. In such a situation overall coordination should be given to Army and NDMA should assume overall command. In fact, NDMA has failed to manage its first large scale disaster after its evolution.  

•  Due to inability of the State Govts. to assess  the situation correctly, adequate resources could not be made available for rescue operations. The entire effort remained disjointed. There's no dearth of helicopters of various types in India. The Central Govt. should've pumped in more resources ab-initio. 

•  In such like situations, Army/ Defence Services/ PMF units located in the area should automatically assume responsibility of relief and rescue without waiting for formal sanction. Unawareness of resources and requisition procedures also leads to avoidable delays as in one of the states the Govt authorities didn't know the hiring procedure of Army and Air Force Helicopters. The Chief Secretary should've picked up phone and spoken to PS MoD bypassing all intermediaries. Paper work could've followed. 

• Politicians should be restricted to visit the affected areas and the local authorities should pave way for volunteer organisations for relief operations right in the beginning.  Saving the precious lives of the stranded people should take precedence over political mileage or blame game of the politicians.

Indian Education System : Are we heading the Right Way?

True to its physical and cultural diversity India possesses a diverse education system which is full of multiple flaws. As a result of this, poor students suffer throughout their life. Students of North are not able to adapt to the schools and colleges of South and vice-versa.

Every state in the country has its own Board of Education and pattern. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) beside Indian Certificate of Secondary Education(ICSE) have their own pattern. Syllabi of all types of Education boards also differ in content as well as quality, which adversely affect the students. 

In fact, India would be a unique country where such a disparity exists. Despite of primary and secondary education being state subjects, the state governments are not able to meet the ever increasing pressure on the educational infrastructure at the primary, secondary and UG/PG levels due to disproportionate increase  in population. Therefore, the need of private participation in education is necessary. But, we can not allow exploitation of students by them. Hence, the govt. need to tread very carefully not losing the control to private parties. But is it happening so? A big NO is the answer!

The UPA govt. in its efforts to rationalise the education system in the country has landed up losing control over the system! In fact , if I may be permitted to say so, education in the country has been sold to private parties, who have put the whole system to ransom, starting from pre-school levels to higher education levels. There are reports of private reputed schools in Metros for charging upto 3-5 lacs as capitation fees for entry at pre-school level. On the contrary, professional colleges, especially in the medical field, are charging anything from 15-50 lacs at graduation levels and from 50-150 lacs at PG levels. This has also been proved recently in a sting operation carried out by media at a medical college in Meerut, where an honorable Member of Parliament from UP was asked to pay Rs 150 lacs for PG course for her daughter's medical education.

Here, I would like to ask honorable Shri Kapil Sibal ji,

 "aap waisey toh bahut yogya hain, bolte bhi bada accha aur jor se hain, lekin aapne apne baccho ka bhavishya kyun commercialise kar diya? Kya aap jantey hai ki jitne bhi logon ko aapke sarkar ke period mein naye schools, colleges aur universities chalaney ki manyata mili hai, unme se 75% education institutes chalaney ki yogyata hi nahi rakhtey! Is desh ke bacchon ke bhavishya se khilwaad karne ka hak apko is desh ki janta ne toh nahi diya. Phir apne aisa kyun kiya? Hai apke pass koi jawab?"

Let me ask an open question through this blog to all the HRD/Education ministers and those who are actively related to imparting education in the country. In the wake of current globalisation and threats of regional economic supremacy from China, can we really afford so much of disparity in the education system and handing over the reigns of higher education in the hands of unprofessional business people, who merely treat education as a business. So, please reconcile, think pragmatic and do not let the reigns loose as without Govt. checks and balances , we are bound to lose an edge over China which we enjoy today on account of youth power.

Thanks
Jai Hind!