Two faces of the country

Of late, a group of people in the name of certain faith started acting against the democratic set up of this great republic.They plunged into the action with great vigour and vim towards cultural cleansing of the country. Unfortunately, in recent times we have seen how different groups under the banner of  'Sena' started creating havoc all over and adding fuel only towards lawlessness in different parts of this great republic as I said and making the life of ordinary law abiding people clumsy  enough that they forgot to breadth of their own openly. These fringe groups are of many colours and many name but with one common motto of creating disturbances in normal life. To name a few

01. Shiv Sena : This dreaded group has political registration as a party, but frequently come down on the road in groups in the name of Shivaji Maharaj and Maratha hegemony, let it be smearing the face black  of a notable identity or may vandalise the public property in the name saving Indian Culture. They do not spare a author or a singer or a member of film fraternity of neibouring country. Since they have a political identity ruling State Government often take their help to form a majority in assembly. They act as if they a controlling Maharastra.

02. Maharastra Nirman Sena : This group is more dreaded than the first group and infamous for creating trouble in Mumbai city specially with vandalising property and manhandling people who oppose them. This party is actually a break away group of Shiva Sena.

03. Gau Rakhsak Brigade ( Sena in derogatory ): Most dreaded and infamous group of people spread almost entire northern part of the country commonly known as 'cow belt' in derogatory sense. Their handwork is vicious on members of a  particular faith and started with absolute notoriety towards the people,physically assaulting them mercilessly, killing them with utmost rage and hatred. 

04 Karni Sena : We have a new group named Karni Sena. They have taken duty to save Rajput pride and glory all over the country, but most of their faces are seen in  so called 'Cow Belt' the area comprises Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and Haryana. They are backed by political part also and freely taking upper hand on  peace loving citizens  even declaring 'Fatwa' with monetary prizes. Their terror is unleashed now all over the cow belt and this may continue for some more time.

 Over all above a group of people are spreading rumours of hatred with morphed and doctored photographs with or without help of TI cell of different political parties. They are in chronology of sending polemically satirist memes against each other and slinging mud before different state election process. The social system of the country is at stake and central government is watching these silently without taking any strong action. People from powerful background are getting rid of the clutches of judiciary and only people from poor background and or from minorities are arrested and rules of law are hammered on them heavily. e.g two ordinary young girls from Mumbai had to face jail for posting against declaring holiday after death of Bal Thekarey. So, fundamental right of expression was shattered by government machinaries during the material time who were busy in worshipping party above goernance.  One boy from UP has been arrested very recently by Haryana police for posting or sharing meme against Prime Minister where as Youth Congress group has been escaped from legal action easily after posting memes against the same PM.

BJP it cell posted morphed photo of ex PM J L Nehru, spread hatred in West Bengal early this year with doctored photo of violence,but so far no one has been arrested although every single person of the country knows those were hand work of Alka Lamba a BJP leader.

While some of politicians are making themselves  laughingstock in front of the world some other trying with utmost sincerity to hold the country flag high in front of world population, but they are minuscule compared to oppositions. 

Other than all these rape, groping, stalking of women is a common phenomenon of modern India. Tourists from other countries visiting India are properly cautioned by their embassy the do's and don'ts , especially for women tourists, their dress code etc. This is the level of fear among citizens of other countries for India.

Meanwhile, phase of transition of the country from AAb3 to AAb2 in international arena in one side and going down the domestic social stigma from earth to nadir by another side are two different sides of modern India.

Incredible India !  

  

ROHINGIYA : A STATELESS RACE OF MANKIND

Rohingiya people can be described as 'stateless' Indo-Aryan people from the Rakhine state which was formerly known as Arakan state of Myanmar( Burma)which they claim to be their homeland since generations.Majority of these Rohingiyas are Muslim by faith and a small portion of them are Hindu. If one go to the history of migration from Indian sub-continent to Myanmar that  actually has taken place perennially since centuries he will find that this was started as a part of spreading different religious faith viz,Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam in the region. These settlers recorded at Arakan region dates back from 17th century.The term Rohingiya was mentioned in the record of East India Company as 'Rooinga' as early as 1799 AD. This migration especially from greater Bengal ( present Bangladesh and state of West Bengal of India) continued till 1937, when erstwhile Burma was separated from British India.Thus the language of these Rohingiya has got similarities with dialect of Chittagong region of present Bangladesh that shares the boundary with Rakhine state of Myanmar.

Ironically, Myanmar Government never recognised them as Rohingiya or a part of the population of their own country, but they preferred to refer them as illegal migrants of Bengali community.in 1982 the Burmese Government enacted the Burmese national law and de-recognised Rohingiya as national race of Burma and these wretched people, who comprised 80-90% of population of northern Rakhine state became 'STATELESS' in a single day. 

The problem with Rohingiya started after that and Rohingiyas started fleeing from Myanmar.By the year 2015 the military crackdown at Myanmar, almost half a million Rohingiya population already fled and taken refuge at nearby Bangladesh and few people at India also.They have fled to Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Nearly 100000 people are displaced by ruthless Burmese army and are living in camps at Myanmar as 'Internally displaced persons'.

Now, the biggest question comes in present scenario, the government of Bangladesh how long will give them refuge. They are not a rich nation and having their own multiple problems.Are they capable to bear the influx in this magnitude.Endless flow of homeless people are crossing the international border and BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) cannot keep strict vigil in entire boundary. Thousands of people are stationed at 'No Mans land' between both countries.

Many of these refugees will have criminal background, and may go for criminal activities, theft, rape of woman etc which is found common in refugees of western Europe. These people may cause serous problem to the nation. But, still  they are given refuge by Bangladesh government as an act of humanity.

If these refugees are given shelter purely on humanitarian ground how this will affect on Bangladesh economy? Will these these people become a burden to Bangladesh on a later day like the refugees at Germany, France and other European countries? Only time will tell that.

     

GAU RAKSHAK COMMITTEE AND SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

After his famous victory over the world in religious conference at USA Swami Vivekananda just returned to India. He had attended many invitation and felicitation ceremony in many places. He was then having a vision in his mind to start a ‘missionary ‘for rendering social service to the humanity. One such day he was invited at the residence of Priyanath Mukherjee at Bag bazar Calcutta. Some other respected citizens of the city came and they were busy in discussion. At that point of time one came inside and informed Vivekananda that one stranger came to meet Swamiji. Despite his request being turned down repeatedly the man rigidly stood outside to meet him. Vivekananda came out and saw a medium structured man in saffron and clade with saffron turban waiting for him with a side bag. The man drew a photograph from his bag and handed over to Swamiji. Swamiji saw the photo. It was photo of a healthy milch cow. Inquisitively he enquired the man “What is the cause of your committee and what service do you render?”

The enthusiastic man replied “We want to stop killing of holy mother cow. We save holy cow from the clutches of butchers.”

Vivekananda asked “But what about those cows that get old and aged?”

The man was encouraged and replied “We are going to make old age home for those cows throughout the country, and for that we need huge fund.”

Vivekananda told “Well, but the country is now under severe famine. Already nine lakhs people died that also per government report. Did your organisation taken any vow to help those famine affected people?”

The man replied “That is not our job. But, if we do not save cows Hinduism will reach to its nadir.”

Vivekananda kept his cool and told” I understand, can you people not keep abeyance the service to cow for some time and work towards service to human beings?”

The man got wild and said “What you are telling? Are you telling to forget holy cow? What we are to do with death of human? They are sinners and they are dying due to their sin only.”

Then Vivekananda could not control himself. He shouted to the guy and said “Those organisation do not care for humanity, and do not ready to render service for people who are dying, I do not have any sympathy for them.”

The man asked again “This means you do not believe on sin?”

Vivekananda replied “If everything is believed happening due to sins, then you holy cow is of not exemption. They are butchered due to their sin.”

The man tried one last time and said “But, cow is our mother.”

Vivekananda replied with a smile “That is understood seeing the worthy son like you.”

The man could not understand the satire and still begged some money from him.

Vivekananda could understand that there is no point discussing with this guy. He smiled and simply replied “I am a saint, a penniless pauper. Where I can get fund to help your cause? I am trying to get fund for my own vision and that will not travel in same path of yours. My job to humanity and first food for needy, then wisdom to them and the religion comes last.”

[This exerts are translated by me for more readership from Bengali novel by famous author Sunil Ganguly named ‘Prothom Alo’ that literarily means first light. This also contained in a book named “Swamiji for all” page No 20 and 21 published by Ramakrishna Mission Cultural Institute ISBN No 81-85843-26-0 . This has reference also in first authentic biography on Vivekananda by Promothnath Bosu   named “Swami Vivekananda” 1^st and 2^nd volume.]

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INDEPENDENCE DAY : VIEWS OF A COMMON MAN

Introduction:

We are nearing to celebrate our 71st INDEPENDENCE DAY shortly. Again we have reached near time for reappraisal of ourselves as well as our country as a whole for that we could achieve in last 70 years. I know, we are all viral tigers and try to post our feelings in social media and will try to put all that we have achieved into the bag of present ruling government and that we could not into the bag of previous government on the pretext that all that wrong doing were their motto. In this essay I will impartially try to year mark the nation as a whole from 1950 to 2017.

At the very outset, we will try to analyse the strength of our country. Our strength is that we speak more work less. This is bitter truth for our nation. We promise many, our leaders promise/promised up to any extent (because promise does not cost anything) but to fulfil the promise it becomes a mountain to them. I will first start with growth of our economy as a whole. Incidentally we have two close neighbours of whom one is Pakistan, where we lost most of our energy and money to show them what they deserve and other neighbour is China who also started growing from the same point of time when we started. Now let us make a comparative study of our economy and growth right from 1950 vis a vis our neighbour China so that we can gauge our achievements as well as where we are legging behind:

01. Economy and Development:

Friends, India gained independence in 1947 and became a republic in 1950; the Chinese revolution occurred in 1949. Thus, 1950 is an appropriate starting point for comparative study:

v  Both were primarily rural societies with agriculture the predominant form of employment and production. Their agricultural sectors were characterised by small farms, unequal land ownership, and a large labour force. "Agricultural output per person in China was higher than the level in India, but China was closer to limits of its cultivable land and of yields per hectare given the technology of that time" (Malenbaum 1982, pg. 47).

v   The industrial sectors were small and employed less than 15 percent of the respective work forces in 1950. In both countries, industry was dominated by small-scale and traditional forms of enterprise, but "... India's industrial output was more modem and diverse and, judged on the whole, greater per person than China's" (Malenbaum 1982, pg. 47).

v   K. N. Raj estimated that 2.6 percent of the Indian labour force comparing to 1.3 percent of the Chinese labour force were employed in large-scale factories and mines in the early 1950s)

v  Their per capita GNP's were roughly equal in 1950: $50--60 ranges in 1952 U.S. prices according to Malenbaum (1982, pg. 47);

v   It was $65 in China and $62 in India at 1960 U.S. prices according to Weiss Kopf (1980, 81).

v  Both societies were characterised by low literacy rates, life expectancy of close to thirty-five years, and sharp regional and class inequalities. Their economies and cultures were traditional, rural, and static.

This trend continued up to 80's of last century. Then I think everyone remembers two major incidents of last century that changed the economic structure of both countries.  1) Tiananmen Square in China that changed China to come out from close social economy towards open economy and 2) The shift of Indian economy from Nehruvian social economy to LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation and after that period more precisely from 1991.let us compare again both economy and we find:

v  GDP of China is 5.06 and 2.39 times more than India at nominal and PPP terms, respectively.

v  China crossed $1 trillion mark in 1998 while India in 2007 at exchange rate basis. Now in 2014, India crossed 2 trillion marks and China crossed 10 trillion. Whereas, in 1980, size of economy of China and India were $309 and $181, respectively.

v  GDP of China at PPP terms is 1.7 times more than compare to nominal basis. This ratio of India is 3.60.

v  In nominal terms, per capita GDP of China is $7,589, 80th position in world and 19th in Asia. India's GDP per capita is around of $1,627. India's rank in world and Asia is 145 and 33, respectively. On PPP basis, GDP per capita of China is $12,880 and of India is $5,855.

v  China is 4.66 times richer than India in nominal method and 2.20 times richer in PPP method.

v  Out of 35 years from 1980 to 2014, China grew by more than 10% in 16 years while India in only one. India reached an all-time high of 10.26% in 2010 and a record low of 1.06% in 1991. India's growth rate was 9-10% in 4 years, while China in 7 years. And lastly

v  Indian rupee was at 4.23 INR per Chinese Yuan (CNY) on 2 Jan 1996.

v  Value of Indian rupees has fallen to 10.18 INR per 1 CNY in 1 Jan 2015.

So we lost in race chronologically with them in the mid-way somewhere. Our military might is now much less than that the People’s Republic of China has.

02. Education:

India has made progress in terms of increasing the primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately three-quarters of the population in the 7–10 age groups, by 2011. India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its e Much of the progress, especially in higher education and scientific research, has been credited to various public institutions. While enrolment in higher economic development induction has increased steadily over the past decade, reaching a Gross Enrolment Ratio of 24% in 2013, there still remains a significant distance to catch up with tertiary education enrolment levels of developed nations, a challenge that will be necessary to overcome in order to continue to reap a demographic dividend from India's comparatively young population. However we have to keep a track on school dropouts in primary level and if we take the present data we see that the enrolment in primary level is although 93% but enrolment at secondary level is only 69% which means the drop out at this level is 24%. The picture in post-secondary level is really gloomy and is only 25% thus dropout in school level is totally 68% which really alarming. Although the total allotted budget for education from 2005 to 2012 (the available data with me) is Rs 99100 crores equivalent to US $ 15 Mn. Meanwhile, India should not forget the theory of Amartya Sen’s ‘Welfare Economy’ where it is said that a nation cannot develop until its citizens are given basic education to all.

3. Health care:

India’s current health policy originated in the nation-building activities that occurred during independence in 1947 and in the philosophy embodied in the government of India’s 1946 Report on the Health Survey and Development Committee, commonly referred to as the Bhore Committee Report (Gupte, Ramachandran, and Mutatkar, 2001; Peters et al., 2002). The report concluded that India’s poor health conditions could be attributed to unsanitary conditions, defective nutrition, the inadequacy of the existing medical and preventive health organisation, and a lack of health education. The committee provided comprehensive recommendations that included placing health workers on the public payroll and limiting the need for private practitioners.

But, since the 1980s, multiple forces have driven changes in the health system in India. As Qadeer (2000) argues, the emerging middle class and private practitioners worked with international donors to push Privatisation in the health care system. The middle class lobbied for “high-tech hospitals” that provide international standards of health care; the private practitioners benefited from government subsidies for medical education and put pressure on the authorities to loosen regulations over medical care. International donors, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, played a crucial role in supporting reforms, including cutting health sector investments, encouraging the private sector, and introducing user fees and private investments in public hospitals. There was an increase in the total direct investment in health as well as related investments in water supply and sanitation. The specific investment in family planning rose from less than 1 percent to 26 percent of the total. At the same time, spending on the control of communicable diseases dropped from 17 to 4 percent. - But, overall if we look upon the health indicator of our country we have miles to go still now. If we again compare with China (since both countries started their journey in same time) we will see people in China live longer and are healthier than people in India (see Table 3.1). According to WHO’s statistics, a woman born in India in 2004 has a life expectancy of 63 years, whereas a woman born in China at the same time has a life expectancy of 74 years. A man born in India has a life expectancy of 61 years, whereas a man born in China has a life expectancy of 70 years. The disparity in life expectancy between the two countries is greater for women than for men, which is partly a result of the ten-fold greater maternal death rate during childbirth for women in India compared with women in China. Additionally, residents of India suffer higher mortality rates in both childhood and adulthood than do residents of China.

Health status at birth in India is poor. It is estimated that 30 percent of infants in India were born with low birth weight (LBW, less than 2,500 grams at birth), whereas only 6 percent of newborns in China were born with LBW. Fifty-eight out of every 1,000 infants in India died before their first birthday, whereas only 27 out of every 1,000 infants in China died before their first birthday.

4. Present Scenario

Meanwhile, our country democratically elected a man in 2014 who started showing dream to us  Let us try to remember some of his promises he made from the podium of Lal Quilla on INDEPENDENCE DAY of 2015 after unfurling of our national flag. The tempo of his speech made us jubilant and we felt triumphant to believe that we are going to achieve this time. Days of false promise will fade away and our dream would come into reality. I will call you all to analyse and find what we received and what is left behind:

i). Pradhan Mantri Jana Dhan Joyona 

What Modi said

What actually happened

“I had announced 'Pradhan   Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna' on the last 15th of August. Even after 60 years of Independence; even when the banks were nationalised for the poor, 40 percent people of the country were without a bank account till the last 15th of August; the doors of the banks were not open for the poor. My countrymen, today I can proudly say that we achieved that target within the time frame. 17 crore people opened their bank accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna. With a view to extend opportunities to the poor, we had said that these bank accounts could be opened with zero balance.”

As many as 228.1 million new bank accounts have been opened as on August 3, 2016, an increase of 31 percent from 174 million in 2015–24 percent of these accounts (“zero-balance accounts”, in official term) had no money, a reduction of 22 percent from 2015. The balance in the accounts increased 85 percent over one year, from Rs 22,033 crore to Rs 40,795 crore. The previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had opened more than 50 million “no-frills” accounts–as they called them–for the poor over five years, but most were never used,( India Spend reported in October 2014.

ii). Swacch Vidyalay Abhijan: 100% separate toilets for boys and girls 

What Modi said

What actually happened

"It just came into my heart and I had announced that we would build separate toilets for boys and girls in all of our schools till the next 15th August. But later on, when we started work, the “Team India” figured out its responsibilities, we realised that there were 2 lakh and 62 thousand such schools where more than 4.25 lakh toilets were required to be built. I compliment all the state governments, government officers of the districts, policy framers and implementer of educational institutions, who were involved in realising this achievement.”

A nationwide Fact Checker check revealed the claim that 100 percent of India’s schools were not true. Random checks across seven states revealed widespread infirmities, such as: Many schools, from urban New Delhi to backward, often remote, areas, such as Chatra district (Jharkhand) and SedamTaluka, Gulbarga district (Karnataka), did not have toilets. The specific claim that every school now has separate toilets for boys and girls in all schools was not true. Existing toilets in schools in areas such as Delhi, Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh), Tumkur (Karnataka), Dantewada (Chhattisgarh) and Wanaparthy (Telangana)–either already built or new–do not have water or are not maintained. That makes them useless. Without water, and after a few students used them, they became unusable.

iii) Give it up: 10.4 million have given up LPG subsidy voluntarily; 1.76 million women get free gas connections

What Modi said

What actually happened

“My brothers and sisters, I had made a request to my countrymen that if you are economically sound, then why do you avail subsidy on LPG? Why do you need this paltry amount of rupees five to seven hundred which you usually spend on petty snacks? I had just started giving message about this; I didn’t launch any campaign as yet, because I have faith in “Team India’. As the message spreads the result would come, but today I can tell with pride that ever-since I had launched movement of “give it up” subsidy of LPG gas cylinder, till date 20 lakh (2 million) consumers have already given it up.”

As many as 10.4 million people gave up their LPG subsidy voluntarily, according to recent official data from the ministry of oil and petroleum. The Centre launched “Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana” to provide LPG connections to 50 million women from families who live below the poverty line over a period of three years, starting from financial year 2016-17. As many as 1.76 million connections have been given under the program as on 25 July 2016, according to data tabled in Parliament.

iv). Electricity to villages: Govt says 98.1 percent electrified, but electricity supply suspect

What Modi said

What actually happened

“Brothers and sisters, in the coming days I wish to concentrate on an issue. Even today, there are about eighteen thousand, five hundred such villages in our country where electric wires and poles are yet to reach. Eighteen thousand five hundred villages are deprived of the sun of independence, deprived of the light of independence; they are deprived of the rays of development of independence. But it is now the solemn pledge of the “Team India” of 1.25 billion countrymen that the target of providing electric poles, electric wires and electricity to these 18,500 villages would be achieved within the next 1000 days.”

As many as 587,569 of 597,464 villages (98.1 percent) in India were “electrified” as on June 30, 2016, which means only 9,895 do not have electricity, according to a recent report by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). A village being declared “electrified” does not mean a household will get electricity, Fact Checker reported in November 2015. The ministry of power defines a village (from 2004-05) as electrified if: Basic power infrastructure, such as a transformer and distribution lines, is provided in the inhabited locality as well as associated Dalit settlements, which are often excluded from village facilities, where they exist. Many villages classified as un-electrified are counted as electrified on an app “GARV” (launched by the power ministry to track electrification). Uninhabited villages have been marked as electrified. Villages like Panalomali, Kusadangar and Patyetapali in Odisha and Sunwara in Madhya Pradesh — all counted as electrified villages — have no people residing there.

v). Social security: 127 million people enrolled for three major programmes

What Modi said	What actually happened
“We have laid great stress upon social security and also the welfare of the poor – and thus Prime Minister’s Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and Prime Minister’s Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) have been launched. Crores of people of our country have no social security cover.”	APY has been given to 2.7 million, PMSBY to 94.5 million and PMJJBY to 29.7 million citizens as on 14 June 2016, according to official data. More recent data tabled in Parliament indicates that 3.04 million Indians have registered under APY as on July 20, 2016.

vi). Rural India: Agriculture budget increased by 44 percent, several rural programmes launched

What Modi said

What actually happened

“We need drastic changes in the agriculture sector. The cultivable land is shrinking; it is getting divided between families and pieces of land are getting smaller. The fertility and productivity of our agricultural land must increase. The farmers need water and electricity and we are working towards their availability. We have decided to pump in fifty thousand crore rupees in ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchaai Yojna’. How will the water reach the farms? Water will have to be saved. We have to launch a movement in our agricultural sector with the mantra of “Save Water, Save Energy, and Save Fertilisers”.

Modi is right about the divide in farming land–5 percent of farmers control 32 percent of India’s farmland and a “large” farmer in India has 45 times more land than a “marginal” farmer, India Spend reported in May 2016. The land that can be farmed has marginally declined, from 182.5 million hectares in 2008-09 to 182 million hectares in 2012-13, mainly for non-agricultural purposes, such as urbanisation, roads, industries and housing, according to data tabled in Parliament. The agriculture budget rose 44 percent, from Rs 24,909 crore ($4 billion) in 2015-16 to Rs 35,984 crore ($5 billion) in 2016-17, to address growing distress in rural areas from successive monsoon failures.

vii). One Rank One Pension for service personnel: Approved

What Modi said

What actually happened

“The issue of “One Rank One Pension (OROP)” has come before every government, each one has considered its proposal, and each and every government has made promises on it, but the problem is still pending to be resolved. I say to service personnel, we have accepted “One Rank One Pension” in principal but talks are going on with its organisations. Talks have reached at the final stage and we want that all get justice keeping in view the development of whole country. How it is implemented in view of its nitty-gritty situation, we are taking the talks forward by engaging with its stakeholders”

Modi approved the OROP proposal in April 2016. It will cost the government an additional Rs 7,488 in annual pensions and Rs 10,925 crore in arrears. As many as 1.6 million pensioners were paid their first pensions through the OROP program; Rs 2,861 crore was spent until March 31, 2016. Certain issues and anomalies have been raised by servicemen, which a government panel is considering.

5. Miscellaneous achievements:

a) Learned to respect Indian Army or I will be proved anti national.

b) Enhanced my lexicon with few words like bovine, bigotry, dhimmitude etc.

c) A new brigade of civil army introduced in country name “Gauraksaks’

d) A new segment of police introduced called ‘Anti-Romeo squad’  

e) A new definition of neo-religious faith came into force.

f) NCERT course will be redefined where names of old gourds of literature may be removed.

g) Words like ‘Cow’, ‘Gujrat’ ‘Hindu’ etc are prohibited to be spelt in public domain in certain circumstances.

h) A new chapter of Biology is introduced where I learned afresh that cow exhale oxygen, Peacock’s tears contains seminal fluid. Etc.

Conclusion:

I, as a common man had some vision, a dream for my country. I am the democracy; I am the preamble of constitution.But unfortunately now, I lie down from length to breadth of the country like Da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’ naked with my hands and legs spread  but I saw, they have butchered me into small pieces, they minced my soft flesh in ideal pieces, comfortable for them to cook and at last they fall upon like hungry beast to taste the cuisine! What cannibalism! Alas, tiger's flesh is not tigers prey, but MEN IS THE COMMON FOE OF MEN.

I carried my own corpse in the vicarage, it is me only who tore into pieces at morgue and I bade farewell to my mortal remains in misty eyes, because I am the common men.

Still, I dream, for a true democratic free India out of evils of all draconian misdeed by a few and hope for this on the eve of our 71^st Independence Day, only the hope that prevails.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

Reference:

‘Fast post’ dated 13.08.16

RAND: Center for Asia pacific policy: an international specific paper on A Comparison of the Health Systems in China and India Sai Ma& Neeraj Sood

Education India –Wikipedia

Statisticstimes.com  

Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai

Relation between China and India is the hottest subject of discussion in current political and diplomatic scenario. Many users of social media are keen to stop buying Chinese consumer products although most of them are not aware how to detect that.For their academic interest I would like to extend some help to those pundits. All countries have been awarded separate code numbers to printed prefix of their individual product code to enable consumer to ascertain correctly in which country the very item is produced.Such as items made in India bears prefix of manufacturing code is 890. Similarly for items of USA and Canada are 00 and 09 respectively. Some more are like this : UK 50 , France 37, Germany 44 , Japan 49 and so on.Do you know the code for China ? Remember it is 690, 691 and 692.

Our country has relation with China dates back to 8th century when Huen-t -sang came to our country to obtain wisdom of great Nalanda University. Again during 18th century people from China started migrating to India. It is said that one man named A-t-Su navigated from south China and his ship confronted tempest in sea and subsequently wrecked in a place near to Budge Budge of present West Bengal. He along with his other members landed in this unknown land with pack of good quality Chinese tea leaves with them. They had no other choice but settle here. A-t-Su presented a pack of tea leaves to Warren Hastings, the than Governor of Bengal and in return received the order to stay at that area which subsequently named after him as A-t-Su pur and then Achhipur present. Next generation of those people slowly migrated to Calcutta slowly and Calcutta became a natural Indian colony cor Chinese people. Meanwhile, Calcutta became the most important port city of British India and flood gate cor Chinese national was opened and thousands and thousands of people started migrating at Calcutta. They came from different places of China expert with different professions. Most of them came from Canton province were good in woodwork & craftsmanship. Similarly all Chinese dentists came from Hupe and those who did not have any proper profession they came from Hakka and started hotel business and tanary. The word Hakka Chowmein came from those Hakkan. 

Another group of people was brought by British as manual labourer who were sent to Assam to work in tea garden. Thus Chinese are settled in India from generation to generation.Fate of Chinese living in Assam was changed overnight by Nehruvian belief during 1962 war. They were wrongly imprisoned and sent to nail in different pars of India on the pretext that they may betray the country because of their origin which proved wrong later. We have numbers of citizens from Chinese origin still living in Assam Naharktia area and Tengra area of Calcutta.

Living closely with them from centuries how much do we know about their culture? They speak fluent Assamese and Bengali and aware of all major festivals of India

But do we know that ,

1) Chinese years are named after twelve animals and after one full circle it starts again with name of first animal. These animals are Monkey, Hen, Dog,rat, ox,snake, tiger, Rabbit,Dragon, Sheep, Horse and pig.

2) Chinese year evolves with new moon and it starts from day of new moon on February. 

3) One new moon to another new moon is complete one month in Chinese calendar.

4) As per this new moon of 8th Chinese month falls their ' Moon Festival' They celebrate with much fun. They prepare cakes in their home and celebrate as commune.

5) They celebrate ' Dragon boat festival' on 5th day of 5th Chinese month.

6)and ' Lantern festival' falls on full moon night of 1st Chinese month.

Do we also know that

a) Chinese wear attire of jute while attending burial of any of them.

b) New would be bride will take bath on the day of marriage with seven tape of seven colours.

c) New would be bride will eat rice cooked in earlier night with half boiled egg.

d) on the day of dragon festival they put cooked rice and dal inside a pillow made of grass and puts the pillow on the water body of river to float.and 

e) two daily newspapers in Chinese are published in Kolkata till today.  

There are many more of them we do not know despite living together for couple of centuries. We should forget the enmity and try to come closer to each other and try to live as friendly neighbours.

SBI : THE HORRENDOUS RESULT FY 2017

State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest bank, became even larger with the merger of its five commercial banking subsidiaries on April 1, 2017.

 SBI chairperson Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya at the beginning indicated that she was confident the step would make the bank a global player and expected to boost the bank’s annual profit by Rs 3,000 crore in three years.

But SBI profit declined from Rs 12225 Crores in preceding financial year 2016 to a meagre Rs 241 Crores in financial year 2017 as per SBI's declaration of its results on 19.05.2017. But why so ? Let us analyse the facts as under : 

a) to  unexpected horror to all of us the great merger towards becoming a global entity the loss of those 5 subsidiaries or erstwhile associates whatever the term the amalgamated losses is Rs 5792 crores for Q 4 only and cumulative loss Rs 10243 crores for the whole year. This merger has directly affected the annual figure of SBI.

b) SBI subsidiaries such as SBI Life and general insurance, reported annual profits of nearly Rs 2,000 crores,  without these the losses would have been higher. 

c) SBI declared a dividend of Rs 205 per share and this will drain Rs 2073 crores from its own exchequer i.e reserve fund and that share holder may oppose.

d)  Post  results scenario , on May 22, SBI’s share  price fell by 4.6% to Rs 294 and it is currently trading Rs 288, indicating investor apprehension with the huge and unexpected losses of its former banking subsidiaries. 

e) Consolidated loss of those erstwhile associate Banks up to Q 3 was Rs 4550 crore and how it soared so high in last quarter i.e Q 4 in absolute term for Rs 5792 crores?There is no explanation in the public domain by SBI regarding what had happened to cause such a deterioration in the final quarter.

f) SBI’s press release, apart from the mandatory disclosure of consolidated annual results, was a single sentence, “Net Profit (after minority interest) of SBI Group declined from Rs 12,225 crore in FY’16 to Rs 241 crore in FY’17…” Why the rich heritage of SBI  maintaining total silence in public domain ? Was this is a so called hair cut in technical term to cover up the bad  loans of its erstwhile subsidiaries?

g) What was particularly disturbing was the complete lack of transparency regarding disclosing these  in the SBI results, in which the bank only focused on the far better standalone results. Was this consolidation to become a global giant is camouflage to bail out those poorly managed associate Banks ?  

h) Who will be accountable in public domain for huge loss of profits?

To bridge the gaping hole of erstwhile associate Banks have backfired in SBI’s consolidated balance sheet, the bank is ready for  an equity issue of nearly Rs 10,000 crores.  However, as the immediate experience of the SBI merger has shown, reality can be very different from the visions of consolidation. 

Data Source: the wire.com

19TH MAY AND ISSUE OF BENGALI IN ASSAM

Immigration problem in Assam – Bengali Hindu-- A burning issue /  by  dibakar purkayastha

A political comment by heavy weight minister of ruling Assam Government Mr. Himanta Biswasharma on Bengali Hindu immigrants from neighbouring country raised so many eyebrows and controversies in the state. Members of both political as well as intellectuals of the state are trying hard to storm on the ruling BJP citadel .People from all section of the society came out with vociferous protest in both print and electronic media making this hottest topic  of the time. The immigrants and Assam are probably synonyms after independence of India this is a perennial problem of the state. Bengali Hindu from bordering country Bangladesh as refugee and Bengali Muslim for better livelihood made beeline in the state since 1947 and this burning issue was not doused off till date, although efforts are made by indigenous caste Assamese through numbers of movements against this. Let us look little deeper and try to analyse this problem as under:

If we look back to the imperial era, many communities from adjoining country Nepal, Undivided Bengal and other parts of India migrated to Assam. These Nepalese were mainly soldiers joined in the Army. The people from, Jharkhand and Orissa, came to work as labourers in the tea gardens. The people from Bengal can be broadly classified into Bengali Hindus and Bengali Muslims. In the colonial era, the Bengali Hindus were mainly from the elite class, who used to work as clerks in Government administration. Later on there was another class of Bengali Hindu refugees from East Bengal, who became victim of inhuman atrocities after the infamous divorce on the basis of religion by their linguistic counterparts who happened to be majority thereat.

On the contrary, Bengali Muslim immigrants were mainly cultivators, who migrated expecting better livelihood after the partition of country. But, before partition they migrated into Assam valley in accordance with the British policy of ‘Grow more food’, but ultimately many people felt was also complimentary with the Muslim League’s design to ‘Grow more Muslims’.

To understand the problem of Bengali population in the present scenario, one has to understand the various problems to define people as indigenous and immigrants. Again immigrants are internationally defined as two types, that (i) those who migrated after becoming victims various inhuman atrocities by majority group in their homeland and (ii) who migrated from homeland expecting a better economic conditions. Now, we have to look how after the independence of India in 1947, immigration rules were flouted to allow unabated illegal migration into the state of Assam.

To know the demo-graphical contours of Assam, one has to revisit back to the time of colonial raj of imperial British and analyse the impact of the politics of that time on the present political and demographic scenario in Assam. It is true that migration has always been a reality in Assam. Throughout history, we can see people from various places have migrated to Assam, and Assam has assimilated them since time immemorial. However, these migrations were during pre-independence period when the concept of national and international boundary as well as the citizenship Act was not defined properly. However, after 1947, we have our own policy of immigration, citizenship and voting rights. Hence, the legal definition of the word ‘foreigner’ comes into existence after 15^th August 1947.

Ab- Initio, the earliest conflicts started between Assamese people with the Bengali Hindus. This was mainly the outcome of imposition of Bengali language in Assam as the medium of instruction in schools, and the hegemony of Bengali-speaking officials obviously aroused a sense of contempt amongst Assamese. This can mainly be regarded as a conflict between the caste Assamese and Bengali Hindu, which ultimately had grave consequences in the sixties of last century. This movement also widened a gorge between the districts in Barak Valley, having predominantly Bengali population and the caste Assamese of the Brahmaputra Valley, when in 1960, Assamese was declared the official language of Assam. It was therefore more of a cultural issue and a fight for linguistic hegemony from both sides.

Again after a period of two decades , the anti-Bengali movement, in the camouflage of ‘anti foreigner’ started in Assam under the banner of All Assam Students’ Union, whose formation dated back to the days of colonial era.. In the year 1940, a students’ union named ‘Asom Chattra Sanmilani ‘(Assam Students Association) divided into the All Assam Student Federation and the All Assam Students’ Congress. A decade later both wing reunited as the All Assam Student Association, which was later rechristened as All Assam Students Union (AASU) in January 1967. In August 1967, the union established itself as a formal organisation and adopted its constitution.

 In the last seventies of last century the conflict came out of the bottle again. AASU began the anti-Bengali agitation program, and started facilitating the participation of all section of people. They compelled all sections of normal population living in Assam to take active part in such movement with strike in different schools and colleges. All section of students was compelled to join on such activities without their will also. They blocked roads and street corners with vociferous slogans against minority Bengali-speaking people. Those Bengali students who did not want to join movement against their own community, were either beaten black and blue or they had to leave their study in colleges and universities and had to take shelter in safe Bengali dominated area like Silchar, Agartala, Karimganj etc. Girl students in colleges were forcefully ordered by student union to clad themselves only in ethnic Assamese attire and no other.

In the contrary, unlike Bengali Hindus, the earliest of the Bengali Muslim immigrants, either out of fear or compulsion, declared Assamese as their mother tongue. This was evident when the number of Assamese speakers astonishingly soared from 31.4% in 1931 to 56.7% in 1951, which is in many ways incredible. Simultaneously, the percentage of Bengali speakers in Assam declined from 26.8% in 1931 to 16.5% in 1951. The elite Assamese caste Hindu people as well as many intellectuals of that time were mentally accommodative to Bengali Muslims, who they thought they would retain Assamese as their mother tongue in days to come also. The ruling Congress party also looked for a large vote-bank, and created almost favourable conditions for infiltration from East Pakistan from 1951 to 1971 Thus, the percentage of meteoric rise in Muslim population in Assam was unchecked. ‘But from the another angle, if we see , we find that Bengali Muslims had supported caste Assamese Hindus all along to safeguard their existence in Assam. Muslim pockets, especially comprising Bengali Muslims in places like Goalpara, Nagaon, and Barpeta, are settlers but they tried to speak Assamese only. Myron Wiener writes the following in his book Sons of the Soil (1978):

‘After 1947 the Bengali Muslims became defacto allies of the Assamese in their conflict with the Bengali Hindus. Bengali Muslims have been willing to accept Assamese as the medium of instruction in their schools, and have thrown their votes behind Assamese candidates for the state Assembly and the national Parliament. They have declared Assamese as their mother tongue. In return, the state government has not attempted to eject Bengali Muslims from lands on which they have settled in the Brahmaputra valley, though earlier leaders had claimed that much of the settlement had taken place illegally. There is thus an unspoken coalition between the Assamese and the Bengali Muslims against the Bengali Hindus.

As for the real cause of the conflict between Assamese and Bengalis, if we go for in-depth study, we will find the root that lies deep inside started germinating just after the subsequent partition of India after independence.

In the midst of all these political linguistic battle, the Bengali Muslim community gradually settled down in the Brahmaputra valley. Bengali Hindus are peace-loving and mainly working class. They have neither aspired to gain any political mileage nor have they tried to form any political party. But Muslims had other ideas. In some period of time, they formed their own linguistic religious minority party.

Meanwhile through massive protests by the AASU, and the Assamese voter had finally risen up to the task of opposing illegal immigration. People in Assam, from 1979–1985 the whole of Assamese population, including tribal united against illegal immigration and the anti-foreigner movement ultimately led to the signing of the Assam accord, where the people agreed to have 1971 as a metric for judging who is a foreigner.’

 In the national scenario, Assam was slowly losing its identity, because the sheer magnitude of this migration is perhaps unprecedented. ‘The number of illegal immigrants (using the 1971 metric) has been a contentious issue. The number varies from 0 (claimed by AIUDF and some Congress politicians) to 50 lakhs (stated by Lal Krishna Advani).

 This has added a communal dimension to the ethnic or economic conflict. People are now living in denial; intellectuals are not acting impartial because they consider turning a blind eye to this menace is going to paint them in more secular colour. Assamese speaking Muslims have by and large resisted these designs and also consider the Bangladeshis as the ones who are encroaching upon the benefits that minorities get from the state, and have stressed on their Assamese identity rather than Islamic one. However, the plans of these elements include radicalisation of this group of population, so as to receive logistic support for illegal immigration, and ensure that this conflict reaches a point of full-fledged external aggression.

At the end there is always a question unanswered by Mr. Himanta Biswasharma that if migrated Hindu Bangladeshi people are given citizenship, how this will help indigenous caste Assamese people will prove their safe majority? Is it   from the point of religion or from the point of language?

Hindu, Beef and Economy

The present controversy around beef eating, accompanied by violent objection and equally aggressive support, is engineered by extremist politicians on both sides reacting to the change of ruling parties at the Centre. They play with exaggerated or distorted reports and make sensational statements. With the pathetic decline of the Congress which has been enjoying power for long in most parts of India, people expect serious changes in government and government-related institutions and policies. The excitement of new power on the one hand and the fear of losing positions on the other have created confusion and uncertainty.

As per rule of the land in some states no one can kill any cow. The cost of feeding such barren animal is Rs60/- approximately per animal per day. Now big question rose from nowhere that who will bear the cost of feeding an old cow that has stopped giving milk? Poor owner of animal in maximum cases are living on pecuniary circumstances and not in a position to feed an idle animal. Some official from Home Ministry proposed for maintaining ‘Old Age Home’ in each district that seems practically impossible and may require a dedicated Department under Animal Husbandry Ministry of respective states and a new avenue for corruption will open.

Second question is our large Tannery Industry. The famous Chappals from Kolhapur of Maharashtra is gone 35% or more down in production since 2015 and is gradually decaying further. How the Industry throughout the country will survive and who will be responsible for future of workforce of those industries who are in the verge of layoff?

India is highest exporter of beef as per records. Now what will be future of these export license holders and interestingly majority of them are Hindu?

Beef is a sensitive issue which can be exploited by invoking religious sentiments, and profit from exports also could be involved. It is a favourite item of food mainly for Muslims and a few others as well, including Christians and Hindus in different parts of India. Many others, including habitual consumers of non-vegetarian food, find it distasteful either because they are unfamiliar with it or culturally conditioned against it.

India is a vast country with a great variety of castes and creeds. There is no Hindu "religion". Unlike the Semitic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam there is no one founder, sacred book and rules of conduct including procedure for conversion and excommunication applicable to Hindu society as a whole.

Here let us see what Mr M G S Narayanan, a Hindu and former Chairman of India council of Historical Research said about this. An Exert from his article dated 30.10.2015 is very much applicable today’s condition also:

Quote

There were no rules prescribing food habits or dressing conventions or marriage and other customs and practices for Hindu society as a whole. There were no codes of conduct or modes of worship for Hindus in general. Our former colonial masters and their scholars, endowed with Eurocentric arrogance and ignorance about India, conceived the Hindu "religion" on the model of the Semitic religions known to them. They labeled all native groups outside the Semitic religious groups as Hindus in the census records. Actually the term Hindu, applied by outsiders to natives of India, was not a religious term, but a geographical term referring to the inhabitants of the Sindhu or Hindu or Indu region.

The Vedas were considered "apaurusheya" or "of non-human character", thereby suggesting a divine origin. The text consisted of simple songs invoking different deities like Indra, Agni, Varuna, Aditya, Rudra etc. No temples or idol worship are mentioned anywhere in the Vedas, although temples and idol worship, with universal deities like Siva and Vishnu, were in place by the beginning of the Christian era

The sacrificial rituals were elaborated in later centuries and recorded in Aranyakas, Brahmans, Grihya Sutras etc (see, for example, volumes 1 and 2 of Indologist Frits Staal's Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar). They preserved the text of the Vedas as an oral tradition exclusively for themselves, and prohibited the learning of the Vedas by Sudras. Some ancient texts inform that the Brahmin sages (rishis) who lived in forest hermitages (asramas) entertained their guests (atithis, or people who came without prior notice, without looking for the proper tithi) by killing calves and offering beef, considered to be a delicious item of food reserved for honoured guests. That is how the term atithi acquired the synonym of goghna, killer of cows (see Ancient India by R S Sharma). Animal slaughter for sacrifice was common during the Vedic age. The sacrificial animal was called pasu, a term that is used to denote the cow in Kerala. In the ancient law books like Manusmriti, the Kshatriyas were permitted to kill animals in hunting and consume their meat. In Valmiki's Ramayana there is a reference to Sita, wife of Rama, the Kshatriya prince of Ayodhya, keeping watch (during their time of exile in the forest) over the meat of animals drying in the sun.

                                                                                Unquote.

Above exerts of the article clearly defines the rights of food and drapes of people as per ancient Hindu culture and centuries old social customs that prevailed in the society. Why a section of people then making their own rules? Deliberately making statements forcefully towards people in the name of Hindu religion? 

By entertaining indirectly some fringe elements in the camouflage of ‘Gauraksaks’   from Hindu community and thus encouraging hatred and criminal offences by this group towards the basic rights of people living in different walks of the society Government is not reflecting the correct governance towards its people in the democratic set up. Bankimchandra Chatterjee author of National song ‘Vandematram’ opined in the page no 95 of his novel ‘Anandmath’ that ‘Sanatan’ or Vedic Hindu religion is no more exists in India. The religion practiced now in the name of that religion is draconian religion.               

Those so called neo Hindu may fall under certain category, as per Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and may  differ from that I have expressed in this article, but the real fact is that a large Pai of our economy is already decayed by this  and now it is for sweet will good senses of the people who seats on the helm of affairs in Government to chalk out some plan to overcome the situation.