USAGE AND WASTAGE

Scene 1 : The party is over. Everybody has left. Staff of catering services has now to wash the plates and bowls. In most of the plates some leftover was there. Hardly any dish was empty in real term. They have no option but to throw the remains in the dishes to the  garbage bins.

Scene 2 : Sharma’s is a rich four member family. Residing in a six bedrooms’ posh bunglow. It is 10.00pm. Mr Sharma is busy in his office work in his study room. His son is doing something in his laptop in his bed-room. Her daughter is watching a movie on her personal LCD TV in her room. Mrs Sharma is watching her daily-soap on 72” LED TV in drawing room. The cook and other servants have finished the work. No one in kitchen or in dining room, but lights were on in kitchen and dining room. Tow lamps were shining the porch area. Three tube-lights were on in the garden area, though no one was there. Four lamps were on in the chandeliers fitted on two entrances. A lamp was on in the terrace also. Electricity bill was not an issue for millionaire Sharmas.

Scene 3 : Shah’s family is in a hotel for dinner. They were six persons including family members and guests. Every one has started placing order of one’s choice. The waiter served the food. Placing of further/repeating orders was continued till the dinner was over. When everybody finished, almost 30% of the food was remained unconsumed on the table. Mr Shah paid the bill with a credit card, even without looking at the amount in the bill. Left a heavy tip for the waiter. The cleaning boy of the hotel collected all the semi-filled dished and throw everything in the garbage bins.

Scene 4 : Mother asked Jonny to buy a bread from the corner shop. Jonny’s bike was taken by his friend. Jonny pulled out 1800cc car from the garage, draw down to less then half kilometer away glossary shop, buy a bread costing 15 rupees  and came back. Petrol consumed by the luxury car was not a problem for Jonny, because his industrialist father was giving him quite large amount as pocket money.

We are witnessing such scenes frequently. Sometimes, knowingly or unknowingly, we become a party to such scenes. In all above scenes, money was not a problem. They have enough money to pay for the wastage they have made. But here the question is about the resources, scarce resources, misused or wasted. The food wasted in the buffet or in hotel could have been saved and made available to the needy. The electricity or water we are wasting can be used for better productive purposes. Of course we are paying for the wastage. But by the power of extra money we have, we are depriving others of the scarce resources, only because they have not enough money to pay higher prices of the resources. And the prices of resources are increasing because of this wastage also.

There are people who are hand-to-mouth. They can hardly meet their minimum requirements. On the other hand there are people who are wasting basic resources like food, electricity, water, fuel etc. on the strength of the extra money they have. Everyone has right to live the best possible life one can afford. But it doesn’t mean that we should waste the resources. If we can afford, we have all the right to eat the best food, live in best house, use electricity/water/fuel etc. for our comfort. But it does not make any sense in just wasting all these stuff only because we have paid for it. Because of wastage done by the rich, the poor either do not get the required resources for living or forced to pay higher prices for the same.

Basically, we are very careless in using the resources. Only because we can pay, we are using the resources which can be saved and used for better purpose. We are wasting electricity like anything and then we have no enough power to run the factories or providing irrigation facilities to the farms producing food grains. And then we keep complaining for increasing cost of the products/produces. We just forget that we can print the currency, but the resources are not in our control. Mother Nature has decided the quota of each resource for us. We use it or waste it, it is our choice. If we waste it, someone will not get his/her quota. Which will ultimately result in social unrest. I am not supporting Naxalites  at all. But it is time to think about the proper distribution and even more proper use of the resources. ( Distribution of wealth is all together a different issue.) Definitely use what you really need and can afford. But ensure that it is really used and not misused or wasted.

Start from your home, today itself. It will be a great contribution to the society.

LOKPAL - CBI, CVC, EC AND ANNA HAZARE

Anna Hazare demanded for formation of a joint committee for appointment of Jan Lokpal (People Ombudsman). Government has agreed to the demand and made a notification forming a committee for deciding the Lokpal Bill. And people of this ‘unfortunate’ country have started celebration to the extent as if corruption is eradicated from the country. As if all dishonest politicians and bureaucrats are punished. Are we really so innocent or are we fools? People of this country have always, from ancient times, waited for some superman to come and remove all the evils. (Our ancient epics like Ramayan and Mahabharat have also same stories where the “ bechhari-janata(poor people)” was saved from all the evils by some “heros” like Ram and Krushn). Perhaps they have seen their ‘suparman’ in Anna.  Poor folk.

The history of independent India has witnessed that such independent entities have not performed well. CBI, EC(election commission) and VC (vigilance commission) are examples of such authorities. These institutions are given immense powers and independence (at least on paper) to perform without any fear or interference of governments. But the track record of these authorities is far from satisfactory.

CBI, the highest investigating agency has always remain a handy tool for the ruling party to use against the opposition or for own benefits. The working of CBI has always remained doubtful because in many cases the flow of investigation kept changing with the change of power in the center. Bofors is one of the best examples of such so called investigations.

Election commission is such another entity having vast powers. However, during sixty years of its existence, only during the tenure of Sh Sheshan, electoral reforms have taken place. People were made aware of rules and regulations need to be followed by the contestants. But after Sh Sheshan has gone, no further reform took place. Not a single politician has been given exemplary punishment for breach of election regulations.

Until the Tomas issue came out, very few have heard anything about the Vigilance Commission(VC). The reason is this institution has done nothing remarkable ever. Looking to the magnitude of corruption in the country, perhaps this authority has maximum opportunity to show its performance. But this authority has just past its tenure and enjoyed facilities available at the cost of the money of the exchequers.

The basic reason of total failure of such agencies is  that the posting of top-brass of these agencies is still in the hand of the government, directly or indirectly. Due care is always taken by the authority to put ‘right’ person at right place in such agencies. Mostly the persons retired from government jobs, and have track-record ‘suitable’ to the ruling party, are placed in such agencies. (Thomas was just befitting the post of CVC for this government.) For such persons the hefty pay-packet and other perks are extra benefits in addition to the pensions. They just pass their tenure peacefully without annoying their ‘aakaas(masters)’ in power to ensure extension or such another posting. No question of performance comes at all. This system need to be changed. (Our constitution does not allow to express anything against the President of India, otherwise lot can be said about election(!) of some of our presidents, also.)

In light of this situation, appointment of a Lokpal will not make much difference. On one hand some of the demands of Anna Hazare are not fair and tenable. His demand for giving full authorities to the Lokpal for receiving complaints, investigating and punishing the culprit is dangerous if fell in hand of some unscrupulous person. Remember, the Lokpal will be a human being after all and that too appointed by the ruling government. Process may whatever be, our experience is that the ruling party in this country can influence any posting, appointment and even election. On the other hand, again the person posted on this post will ensure that he/she get another term or another such assignment from the government for a peaceful and prosperous retired life. This will definitely affect the performance of the Lokpal.

It is not that nothing can be done to remove corruption from this country. But for that every one should have to start from the scratch. Gandhijee has said “Be The Change You Want To See”. How many of us have got a driving license without paying bribe or using influence? We pay donations to get admissions in any good school, teaching our children that this the way of getting work done. We are not ready to follow even simple traffic rules made for our own safety, leave alone thinking about the safety of others. Instead of asking for our rights, we always trying to find out short cuts to get our work done. We elect criminals and send them in parliaments and then blame the system. No Lokpal can do anything unless we are ready to fight against the corrupt and dishonest politicians/bureaucrats. Instead of searching ‘super/spiderman’ in Anna or some other person, it is better to be a ‘man’ ourselves. If most of us, if not everyone, will become a man/woman and fight for his/her lawful rights as a human being, we do not need any Lokpal.

Unfortunately the situation is totally different. Economic crime has become a status symbol. The definition of good character is reduced to sexual relations only. ( Refer to Loose Character....  in this Blog). Instead of social boycott of corrupt politicians, this lot gets more and more supporters. If we want to remove corruption, the simple way is to stop giving bribe. If most of us will refuse to give bribe, the person asking for bribe will have to change his/her mentality. Instead of voting for any party, we need to cast our vote in favour of the least culprit available in the list.  A coalition of honest persons is far better then an absolute majority of criminals in parliament. If we do so, the political parties will have to rethink about selecting their candidates.

So don’t wait for Lokpal or any other ‘superman’. Such heroes exist in stories and movies only. In real life you are the hero/heroine of your life. Prove it.

2G SPACTRUM : JPC : SCAM + SCAM = NO SCAM !!!

At last it has been decided by the government to form a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) to inquire into the 2G-Spsctrum scam. Now just wait and watch. All the culprits of the scam will be held and severe punishment will be awarded very soon to make it a point to other unscrupulous also.

Here I remember the JPC formed after the Harshad Mehta stock-market scam in early nineties.  That JPC has probed into the scam for years. Tons of documents ware verified. ( All documents were required to be first translated into Hindi because many of the honorable members of the JPC did not know English.) After all such deliberation the JPC has finally found the “system” of RBI General Ledger entry was incorrect which ultimately lead to the scam. (This could have been found by a junior RBI auditor also.) Now, you cannot punish the “system”. No big head was found guilty. Small officials from some of the banks were targeted and punished for their role in the scam.

After a few years Ketan Mehta engineered similar kind of scam. (Fortunately no JPC was formed for probing the Ketan scam.)

The moot question is then why the JPC was so strongly demanded by the opposition?  They went to the extent not let the parliament function for the whole session and have threatened the government to repeat the action in budget session too. (It is another question what benefit common man gets even when the parliament functions!) What they actually want to gain from forming the JPC, because definitely they do not want to hang Raja or any other politician for that matter.

Mostly the JPC was demanded for …

1. The amount involved in the scam is huge and all knows that such largesse must be supported by a corresponding amount of kickback. Now, why only the ruling party gets the entire chunk? JPC will ensure that all get some pieces of the cake. If required, the beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum will required/forced to bring fresh cake.
2. The members of JPC will ensure that none of the person of their party found guilty in the process. In this case, particularly, the government has already declared that they have followed the precedent set by the earlier NDA government.  So all party JPC will save all party members.
3. Propaganda will be made to create an air that no culprit was spared. JPC has investigated in the scam and responsibility was fixed. (Whose responsibility, only GOD will know!) Mostly the “system” or “process” will found erroneous.

In fact the formation of JPC itself is a scam, wasting public money. Let us watch performance of this JPC (Joint Parliamentary Circus !) too.

THE QUESTION OF THE YEAR !

During the so called press meet of Dr Manmohan Singh with the editors-in-chief of the electronic-media on 15.02.2011, one of the editors-in-chief ( a lady, I don't know which channel she was representing) asked the question of the year(!) to Dr Singh :

"Sir, the cricket world cup will start very soon. People of India desire from heart that Indian team should win the cup. What is your wish?"

Did she expected Dr Singh to reply he was wishing some other country should win the cup? (that too in a open press-meet!)

She deserves .... what?

Jay Ho !!!

ALL THE BEST FOR FORTHCOMING EXAMS

ALL THE BEST FOR FORTHCOMING EXAMS

USELESS EMOTIONS ….. GUILT AND WORRY

Can we get the lost time back? Certainly not. Surprisingly, many of us frequently trying to get back the time already passed. Not believing?

What we are doing when we are feeling guilty for what we have done or not-done in past? We are trying to get back to the moments, the time, we have already lived.

Surely no one can change one’s past, however capable/powerful one may be. Then what we are getting by just wasting our present in feeling guilty for our past. Yes, we can definitely learn from our mistakes and DO something now to minimize the loss. But just feeling guilty does not pay any dividend. On the contrary it paralyzes our present.

So, my friends, just forget what has happened in past and make your present more fruitful.

Can anyone has even slightest idea what will happened to Mahatma Gandhi or Mrs. Indira Gandhi, just before few minutes of their assassination. These are just examples. You can recall so many happenings, good or bad, in your life which you or no one had ever expected. What can happen very next moment in any one’s life is not certain.

Again, surprisingly, we are spending our precious present in worrying about what will happen if…..

This IF is very dangerous and useless. Life if full of surprises. In fact, these element of life makes the life more livable.
The fact is we are equally helpless for our future as we are for our past.

I am definitely not meaning that we should stop thinking about our future. We must, and also put all efforts in present to make our future better. But at the same time, just worrying about what will happen if “A” is happen or “A” is not happen does not helping in building concrete base for a sound future. Put all your efforts now, without bothering about what will happen tomorrow.

I remember a sweet short story here …

Once there was a king. He had everything then what he has wanted. A large kingdom, wealth, health, loyal ministers. He was very happy.
He once heard about saint who was said to be very knowledgeable with high spiritual power. So the king went to the saint to pay honor. King requested the saint to give him advice for ruling his kingdom more effectively. The saint said that since the king is already doing well and has everything what a king should have, there is no need any advice. However, the saint wrote something on a piece of paper and gave to the king and said him to use the message when he was in dire need of some assistance. King put the paper in pendent he usually wearing.
Time passed, and as witnessed in the history, some of the near and dears of the king rebelled. The king lost all his powers and wealth. However, somehow he managed to escape with some of his family members. They continued to hide themselves in a forest to save their life. One by one, by one or other, the king lost his family members. A time came, when he was alone in the deep forest. He has no one with him. A wealthy, happy, mighty king just before a few days was not striving for like. Since there was no hope or reason for life is remained, he decided to commit suicide. He decided to hang himself on a tree. Just at the time of fixing the knot of the rope on his neck, his hand touched the pendent. He remembered the words of the saint and opened the pendent and unfolded the paper.
Only one sentence was written there. “This Time Will Also Pass”.The king shocked. The saint has written this sentence when the king was a mighty, powerful king of a large wealthy kingdom. If that time did not lasted, why this one will last forever?
The king decided not to surrender to the circumstances which were always changing. And thereafter the story is as usual. He met some of his loyal supporters, gathered weapons somehow… and of course regains the power.

Moral of the story is that The Time Always Keep Changing. Let the preset moment, if not desirable, be passed.

So my friends, just not feel guilty for what has happened in the past or worry about what will happen tomorrow, and just use present moments as you want to use. Passing exam or getting excellent grade is just one of the activities of life. Failing in any exam is not failing in life. There is always other chance.

Just put all your efforts to achieve the target. Whatever result may come, life is still yours.

All the best….

(In view of the forthcoming exams, I have reposted this article.)

THE NATIONAL SHAME

After post-Godhara riots, in the year 2002 in Gujarat, the phrase “National Shame” was coined by many politicians. I agree that what was happened in Godhara was wrong. What happened immediately thereafter throughout the state was also totally wrong. And what has been happening thereafter, in relation to post-Godhara riots, is even worse. But I do not want to go into this politically painted/tainted issue.

Today I was waiting at a traffic signal at Ellis bridge crossing. (Ellis bridge square is one of the most busy traffic crossings of Ahmedabad city.) The time was 10.00AM. I saw a young boy of around 8 to 10 years defecating on the footpath. And the once very dear phrase of politicians “national shame” struck my mind. Those politicians who want to see what our real national-shame is, should travel in any train reaching New Delhi railway station between 7.00 to 8.00AM. They have just to wake up at 6.00AM and sit on any of the window seat. They will find uninterrupted line of national-shame on the adjoining railway track itself. After 60 years of independent rule of our own people, we could not provide even toilet, leave alone a home, to more than 40% of the population.

If you look around, you will find, other than politicians, many national-shames like …

1. You order a tea on a road side tea stall and the national-shame will come to serve the tea with tea-cup in one hand and water-bowl in the other.
2. Go to any government department and you will require to grease the hands of national-shame for moving your paper from one table to the other. And the other side of the same national-shame will also be there, paying bribes for getting the illegal work done.
3. Want admission in a good school? National-shame is there asking donation.
4. Leave alone the young children, you will find many adult national-shames standing on road side releasing water-pressure, i.e. peeing. (Before a few years  a head line was appeared in a leading daily in New Delhi  - “Are Women Bladderless Creature?”.)
5. Throwing garbage or spitting anywhere is never a shame for us though it is really a national-shame.
6. Is it not a national-shame that the finance minister of a country declares that he has no magic stick to bring down the inflation? (He had many to let the prices of essential commodities doubled in just few months.)
7. And latest one, the chief vigilance commissioner (CVC) of the country says that why can’t he be on the post of CVC even though he has been charge-sheeted for malpractices in past, when there are so many charge-sheeted members-of-parliament? (It is CVC’s duty to ensure that such unscrupulous persons do no remain any more in the parliament!)

The list can go on and on.

But, let us, you and me, decide NOT to contribute to the list.

BEYOND CRICKET

We are facing a hell of the problems. Steep price rise of essential commodities has made the life of common man difficult. Tax-payers’ money is siphoned off by unscrupulous politicians by way of variety of scams like CWG, Aadarsh, 2G-Spartrum and so on. Common man is living in hand-to-mount, even worse, situation. Terrorism keeps on threatening our national security and integration. China is, as usual pushing India on border issues. List is infinite. And of course our elite media is keeping the fire burning by telecasting all these problems as news, discussions, interviews etc.

But come 19^th February and all problems are solved. Because ICC cricket World Cup will starts on that grate day. Once cricket is there, no problem can sustain against the importance of the cricket. We will forget everything and will start bothering who will get the cup.

Cricket news will be the only news, breaking or regular, for all the news channels. Each run scored and fall of every wicket will be updated on all news channels during the match is going on and after the match is over detailed post-mortem of the match will be served to the viewers. And we will happily watch all this silly stuff by roaming from one channel to the other. Newspapers will not remain behind. If BCCI team wins, front-page news item. If they loss, even bigger news with worry of what will happen to this country. (The team playing cricket as Indian team is not selected by any government/public department/body. It is selected and being maintained by an independent body called BCCI. Unfortunately we attach our national pride with these  11+ persons who are on pay-roll of a private profit-motivated commercial entity. In addition now these persons are ‘purchased’ by business houses via auction.)

Pakistan continues cross-border terrorism, no problem. China eyes Arunachal Pradesh, not a big issue. And inflation… what is that?  The core issue is the ICC world cup. All discussions/expressions will be directed to cricket, may it be on TV, news paper or at “Nukkad”. All other things are patty and can be think about( if to think about at all) after 2^nd April, i.e. the last day of the world cup.

News channels’ or news papers’ owners are no fools. They will go after any news either if it has TRP/circulation value or monetary value. And the cricket has both. Average Indian goes mad after the cricket news and BCCI is there to add monetary value for each telecast/publication of cricket stuff.

Sometime I wonder that BCCI is working as a “pacifying agency” for the Indian government. It keeps on producing cricket “tamasha” on regular interval to ensure diversion of average people mind from their day-to-day problems. Cricket is a toxic material being sold without any license to even minors. And world cup is a heavier dose. All will use this toxic material and forget about all the problems. How many marks were obtained in last prelim-exams? Don’t remember? Not a problem, but run scored by Sachin or even Bhajjee must be on tongue-tip. Otherwise you are an ignorant, useless creature and got a big zero in GK.  Budget will come and go. But you need not to bother what taxes will cut your pocket to size until you know the date of next match of BCCI team. But government wants this. Cricket is a big tool for the rulers to divert the mind of common man from the ‘state-sponsored’ problems to something where government is not involved. You can’t blame any politician if so called Indian cricket team run-out of the tournament even in league-round.

Definitely I am not against the game of Cricket. But it should be a sport only. It should not become our national issue. (I will not discuss here about the loss being suffered by other genuine sports because of the unauthorized ‘national-game’ status of cricket.) It should get coverage and our attention only it deservers as a sport. We must remember that cricket world cup will not earn anything for the country. All profits will go the BCCI and will be at disposals of “Lalit Modies”. (Name may differ from person to person, but act will not.)

We, as responsible citizen of the country must come out from this cricket-mania. Enjoying the game is not a problem, but it should not be allowed to command the situation and take all our attention to the extent that the real issues go sidelined and the culprits escape comfortably.

 Please, keep on thinking BEYOND CRICKET during the ICC World Cup too.

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