DEDICATION

It is indeed disheartening to note that the STANDING COMMITTEE of the PARLIAMENT which is go through, discuss , debate and  finally recommend  is still short of 6 MEMBERS- 3 from LOK SABHA and  3 from RAJYA SABHA. To the best of our knowledge and belief , out of  31 so far  the Committee is having  25 members. To do justice all the draft bills  placed before the committee should be taken into consideration. Never judge  anything with a pre-conceived notion..Matters need to be discussed  in a dispassionate  manner. Nothing should be more important  than the national interest. After  going through all  the draft bills , take out the best from them and recommend the best. The  STANDING COMMITTEE  may examine the desirability and feasibility of  having  interactions  with prominent citizens ,who are apolitical.
                                There is no denying the fact  that  if  the COMMITTEE  is  really committed  and keen to do justice  to the job assigned to it, the proposed bill  should  include PM, higher JUDICIARY, and the conduct of  MPs inside Parliament. and  scrap all  the constitutional  safeguards, laws ,rules and regulations of the land  under whose cover the  hydra-headed  monster called  CORRUPTION  thrives.
   

Massacre of Innocents

The on-going England and India cricket series  in U.K. will be remembered by the sports lovers across the globe and more so by the Indians  for reasons more than one. The fourth test is going on. Result is written on the wall. It will be a clean sweep by England. As an Indian I  am not unhappy because we lost the number one position in Test Cricket to a much better team. In a game one side will win  and another side will loose. What is important is  not whether we have won the match  but how we have played the game. The English team right from the first test has dominated in all departments of the game. Their bowling is superb , fielding very tight  and  has depth in the batting. I will  like to place on record my deep sense of appreciation for the batting performance by the tail-enders who are mostly bowlers.On the contrary remember the batting performance of the Indian tail-enders.They came and literally threw their wickets. Their performance in bowling by and large was not economical.  None of the bowlers excepting for a very  short  period could create trouble for the English batsmen in the first three tests. We find the same situation in the fourth and final test.
                    Needless to say the local media  is very critical  about the performance of the Indian team. What is most deplorable in their opinion is the attitude and approach of the Indian team.They lacked aggression on the field right from day one in the first test. From the local press one gets the impression that while the host team came religiously for net practice in the presence of their coach in proper attire, the Indian players excepting the senior ones were very casual putting on all sorts of dresses. This only shows that Coach, Captain  and Team Manager are  simply not bothered to enforce discipline. I fail to understand  why the senior players like Sachin,Rahul and Laxman keep quite and indirectly encourage this sort of indiscipline and tarnish the image of the country to the outside world.
                  I only hope that we do not take this  miserable performance lightly .The B.C.C.I. is only interested in minting money.People who do not  know ABC of Cricket sit in judgement and decide the fate of Cricket thereby spoiling the game like the way they  have done in the case of Hockey. If we really want to put up a good show in games and sports, we must  streamline the functioning of various sports bodies , throw out all politicians, their touts and unscrupulous businessmen turned so-called sports lovers. Discipline among the players has to be enforced at all costs. I  would love to see a B.C.C.I.  packed with eminent sports personalities like Vishwanathan Anand, Kapil Dev, M.K.Pataudi. Prakash Padukone .Baichung Bhutia, Geeth Sethi only to name a few with one Management expert from any IIM as a Secretary. In my scheme of things there  is no room for active or retired politicians, serving or retired  Judges, businessmen and retired or serving civil servants.  I do hope that when I am putting forth this suggestion  I am only doing so on behalf of many Indians.

Emergence of India

Gone are the days when people could talk about bi-polar interpretation of world politics. We had on the one hand WESTERN BLOCK led by U.S.A.and on the other one led by erst-while U.S.S.R. As to maintain checks and balance there emerged the THIRD BLOCK popularly known as the NON-ALIGNED BLOCK led by India. Despite serious differences between those two blocks on many issues,violence did not escalate largely due to fire-fighting role played by the THIRD BLOCK. With the passage of time and balkanisation of east EUROPEAN communist countries, balance of power underwent tremendous changes.India known for her close proximity to former U.S.S.R has moved closer to U.S.A. Apart from economic interests U.S.A. and India, representing the oldest democracy and the largest democracy in the word are to sink their differences to fight their common enemy namely TERRORISM launched by the fundamentalists.  

        It is indeed a pity that while U.S.A. still retains her position to dictate terms to the  outside world, the champion of NON-VIOLENCE MOVEMENT India is yet to get a proper place. No sincere attempt has been made  by the permanent members of the SECURITY COUNCIL  to secure a place for India in the revised set-up in SECURITY COUNCIL. We understand that we could not achieve our legitimate aspiration because we were economically weak. But that is not the case now. India branded so long as a backward  country and then as a underdeveloped economy is now regarded  as an emerging economy next only to China. The countries which did not bother earlier or paying lip service will have to think seriously to allow India to get her rightful  place in the SECURITY COUNCIL.We strongly believe that the charter of U.N.O. needs to be revised  without any further delay to reflect changes in the world power structure otherwise we are afraid  the organisation will meet the same fate like that of  its predecessor  the LEAGUE OF NATIONS. 

            As citizens of India we have every reason to feel proud  with our achievement on the economic front. But the question that is uppermost in our mind is---What economic developments really mean to the common people? Despite economic meltdown global debt crisis in U.S.A. and EURO zone, our GDP growth for the last few years is quite encouraging..Although it is yet to reach double figures, it is fluctuating between 6 to 9 percent. After all said and done the fact remains that while as a fall out to ECONOMIC  LIBERALISATION, some people have joined the coveted  BILLIONAIRE CLUB  and shamelessly displaying their ill-gotten wealth by constructing a sky scrapper  and dedicating to lady love,the teeming millions still do not have bread to eat, clothes to wear and a roof to live under. Generation of wealth indicates economic growth. But it does not necessarily mean economic welfare of the common people.Since our dream is to set up a SOCIALISTIC PATTERN OF SOCIETY,  while generating wealth we are to devise a mechanism so that benefits of economic growth accrue more and more to the less privileged section in the society. As a welfare state our endeavour should be to reduce economic disparity. Unfortunately instead of gap between the rich and poor being reduced, it is widening from year to year. India has become a country of classic co-existence. A small percentage  of the population  is rolling in luxury, majority are below the poverty line. 

        Off late there has been a plethora of discussion  on the hydra-headed monster called CORRUPTION. After lot of dilly-dallying  a LOKPAL BILL  is being introduced  in Parliament..However there are reservations  about the proposed bill. Since we believe in EQUALITY in the eyes of law, everybody including      the PRIME MINISTER  should be included within the ambit of  the bill. Corruption in India thrives under the various safeguards provided in the constitution, laws, rules and regulations of the land.These should be scrapped to ensure transparency in our functioning 

           Apart from corruption which is rampant and perhaps impossible to stamp out, inflation specially on the food front has reduced the benefits of economic growth in real terms  Cost of living being very high, a common man finds it difficult to maintain himself  and his family. As he has to spend a major portion of his low income on food, very little is left to meet the other basic requirements of life. Education is very often the casualty. Instead of sending them to schools , the children are made to work violating the social legislation relating to child labour. 

        YOUTH are the backbone of a nation. Unless they receive proper education and training, they can not take part in building a nation  Unfortunately in India  only a small percentage of the central and state budget is spent on education. Most of the educational institutions specially the private ones are in pretty bad shape.They do not have proper buildings and the required infrastructure. About the quality of teaching staff the less said is the better.On top of all these inherent defects admission in educational institutions are rarely on merit. They are mostly  auctioned to the highest bidders who normally hang around on the corridors of power and manipulate the entire system. 

         Picture on the job market is equally alarming. In most cases one can not get a job without greasing the palm of the people who matter. Advertisements are only an eye wash. Candidates are selected beforehand. Interviews are held only to complete the formality  As there is corruption at the point of entry, it is nothing but natural  that once the candidates get entry they indulge in and encourage corrupt practices Any one standing in  the way will be eliminated like the IITian  in Bihar. 

             CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM  is out-dated. Police in India excepting Kolkata police still follow the POLICE ACT OF 1861. Evidence before a police officer excepting in a few cases is not admissible in law. Onus of burden of proof in most cases is with the  Prosecution.Witnesses in  many cases do not turn up -may be because of too many adjournments. Taking advantage of these weaknesses children from rich and influential families do commit crime and go scot free.

       The purpose of this write-up is not to malign my country or any institution or group of institutions. I  am here only to state the present state of affairs.We all want to see a strong and united India. An India of our dream people from all walks of life should live with  dignity and literally enjoy the fruits of economic development.