Rapes will increase unless .....

Last night Nirbhaya the 23 year old Delhi girl who had been gang raped by six goons died. The rapists were led by a driver of a bus company  notorious for their obnoxious behaviour with citizens and total disregard for the law.

To the credit of the police and the public, the perpetuators of this terrible crime were swiftly apprehended. Why have the owners of and the employer of the bus driver not yet been apprehended?  Is it because the bus company is owned by politicians?

The people are furious  as can be judged by the spontaneous outbreak of widespread protests across the country. Braving the cold weather and the heat of high handed police and political action, protests across the country, by men and women, appear not only to be sustained but growing in momentum.

The government appeared to be paralyzed but this has been just a depressurizing ruse. Politicians know that public memory and fury is short lived and they typically duck responsibility until the storm passes over. 

However, unlike in the past this problem refuses to go away. The key word being 'problem'.

It is distressing to see that people as usual are focusing on the symptoms rather than the problem. Rape, theft, robbery, kidnapping, intimidation, extortion, violence etc. have become quite common in our society.  They however are not the problem, these are mere symptoms of great malaise in our society. 

As social creatures our behaviour and responses are the result of our social conditioning. 

• Conditioning no 1: Movies depict that women really want to be pursued and preferably by force. Their resistance is just a put on. This leads to eve teasing and tendency to rape.
• Conditioning no 2:  Television serials normally depict women in poor light as scheming evil creatures that deserve to be shown their place.
• Conditioning no 3: The normal citizen exists at the pleasure of a political class armed with draconian power of the state and the scary power of the criminal.

Film and television producers have to reconsider their approach and recognise that their need for making money has to be tempered with their responsibility to depict women as worthy of respect.

The greatest 'problem' is, criminalization of our political system and the presence of a large number of criminals in all elected bodies and now heading many of the democratic institutions and even business enterprises.  

Why is that such a problem? The criminals now increasingly control, policy and law making and  enforcement. The criminals control the tax authorities and statuary authorities and investigation agencies to intimidate opponents and to protect themselves.  

History bears proof that all regimes, democratic or otherwise attempts to maintain the social and economic status quo of those in power. If the power is based on criminal minds and deeds, what else can be the outcome? Institutions are now being used to protect the interest of those in power and their henchmen who believe they are above the law. It is not a belief but a fact that criminal politicians and their cronies are indeed above the law.

We should ask ourselves, how did these people reach these commanding heights of criminality and unaccountability? We the citizens put them there and preserve them there, by our silence and inaction.

No political party filled with criminals wants a strong and independent police force nor strong democratic institutions.

We the people instead of merely demanding the emasculation of rapists should demand and ensure that the politicians stop emasculating our police force and raping the people.

The only effective weapons in our hands is our voice, at the polls, through social and mainstream media and protest on the street. Are you doing your bit?

*Image by Alexa Meade

Honest Sindhi judge.

Taking his seat in his chambers, the smart, HONEST Sindhi Judge faced the opposing lawyers.

"So, the Judge said, I have been presented, by both of you, with a bribe."

Both lawyers became uncomfortable.

" You, attorney Mohanty, gave me Rs. 5,00,000, and you, attorney Venkat, gave me Rs. 6,00,000."

The judge now reached into his pocket and pulled out Rs. 1,00,000. He handed it to attorney Venkat and said...

"Now that I'm returning Rs. 1,00,000, we're going to decide this case solely on its merits...!!!"

My thanks to Mr. Madhu Kumta for this piece of humour

Just be my friend

Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. 

Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. 

Just walk beside me and be my friend."

- Albert Camus

Clueless

Thought for the day :

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. 

This means that by 2040, there will be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them..

The perfect crime.

Would it not be the perfect crime, 

if I were to steal your heart 

and you steal mine?

The Education Prison

Image by Ben Heine

In a country with a population of over 1,200 million people it is astounding to hear from almost all employers, "We can't get the people we need".  

India has one of the youngest populations in the world, and this represents a fantastic asset, if the people are productive. However a majority of these young and middle aged people are currently unemployable. If this situation is not corrected soon then India is indeed sitting on a gigantic human resources time bomb. 

Compared to earlier generations the opportunity to acquire knowledge was a great boon for the preceding two generations, with literacy rates and job skills being greatly enhanced. 

To meet the growing demand education institutions have mushroomed mainly owned and managed by politicians. With a focus only on maximization of short term profit  most of these institutions are providing education which is often hopelessly out of sync with current requirements of employers and society in general.

Learning which should be an exciting phenomenon has become a dreary and boring affair for students. So bad is the situation that the students are forced to attend classes which they would prefer not sit in. The system has come to represent a prison of sorts.

Indian educational institutes from school to universities have mandated that every student must attend a minimum of 80% of all classes to be eligible to be examined or tested at the end of each term.

___________________________________

Why was the rule created and why is it sustained?

•   Parents do not have the time, energy or inclination to police or engage their children, they expect the educational institute to do that.  The system keeps children somewhat occupied with each other if not with their teachers and their subjects.

•   When education becomes a drudgery, because of overflowing classrooms, poor quality of content, falling teaching standards, and indifferent or overworked teachers, the children will rebel.  The education institutions see it as an opportunity to earn more fees by imposing penalties, repetitive collections of fees from detained students, etc.

This makes everyone happy except the student, because they have to endure, long boring sessions with drudgery. No prisoner is happy, even if the attempts of teaching are claimed to be for the student's benefit.

 "You can take the horse to the water but you cannot make it drink", goes a well known saying. It is possible to force the student to sit in a class but it is impossible to force them to learn.  You don't have to be a genius to know that any kind of forced action always has unpleasant or problematic results.

Instead of treating the student as a lamp to be lit, our system now considers them to be vessels to be filled.

The situation is indeed alarming but can still be rectified. We need to restructure the way we ourselves and our children learn and acquire skills more suited to meet the challenges of the 22nd century. 

Readers are invited to respond with their thoughts and suggestions.

Where the mind is without fear

"None  are  more  hopelessly  enslaved  than  those,  who  falsely  believe  they  are  free"                                  

~ Johan  Wolfgang  Von  Goethe. 

"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

 Where knowledge is free;

 Where the world has not been broken  up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

 Where words come out from the depth of truth;

 Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

 Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

 Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action -

 Into that heaven of freedom, My Father, let my country awake"

  Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

       (1861 - 1941)

                                                    ___________________________

Come one and all, my fellow countrymen and women, let us celebrate our freedom. 

Why do you not celebrate with us on this Republic anniversary day of ours?

Let us sing and dance like all happy and free people.

Oh I see! You do not feel too happy or so optimistic.  

Freedom, what freedom you ask? 
Maybe you are right.  

We have traded in imperialistic rulers to replace them with self serving dynastic and often criminal rulers.  We lived in bondage under the Kings, Princes, Nawabs, British, Portuguese and French, now they have gone we like to believe we are  free.  But are we free? I think not. 

The enslavement of the mind and spirit is greatly more reprehensible and sad than physical slavery.  The physical slave is aware of his or her plight and either accepts or fights it. 

The tragedy of the people whose minds and spirit are enslaved is that they are not aware that they have been enslaved. They take great pride in their slavery and even preach the same dogma of their former and current masters.

This tragedy the great Rabindranath Tagore ji foresaw and prayed to God that  " …into that heaven of freedom, My father let my country awake" 

A great future beckons us, all we have to do is believe in it.  India can once again become a beacon of hope, health, prosperity and happiness for the entire world.

________________________

"The Bard of Bengal",  Rabindranath Tagore ji (1861 – 1941)  reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art.

Author of 'Gitanjali'  he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Tagore's poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; his "elegant prose and magical poetry" had a profound impact not only on Bengalis but on the world.

His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla. The Sri Lanka's National Anthem was inspired by his work.

I love my India, do you?

Most of the news in the media these days is frivolous, biased and whatever is engaging is negative and depressing. Our leaders and our government gives us much to despair about and yet we are possessed by this disturbingly unhealthy craving for news.

People follow their leaders and the values they demonstrate. When leaders aided by their minions are criminal and corrupt, the people are increasingly inclined to become corrupt. Why earn when you can rob or simply receive a handout?

In spite of its best efforts at concealment and misinformation, such is the magnitude of blatant mismanagement, frauds, siphoning of funds and grand thefts, the government simply cannot stem the flood of information into the public domain.

Every parliamentarian takes an oath to serve the nation and  the people yet many of them seem to have forgotten that  pledge or is it that they simply do not care? The writing on the wall and in the streets is clear. The  government has to act, and act now, to stem the rot and  look after the security and welfare of its people. This is the  first and only duty of any legitimate government.   Power without accountability is dictatorship, and dictatorship  is what the politicians and bureaucrats seek. A government  must stand on both legislative right and moral authority.   The government has lost all moral authority and therefore it  has only the one leg of electoral representation to stand on.  It is our government and we want to support it but for that  the leaders and the government must win the hearts and  minds of the people. Not by tokenism and useless  speeches full of empty promises but by actions that will  win the government and our leaders, the love, respect  and gratitude of its citizens, Amidst this cacophony an inspiring  European leader  comes to mind.  ____________________________________________ Fredrick II,  the Prussian King (1712 - 1786) also  known as 'Fredrick the Great', was once informed  by a visiting British envoy to his court, "Your majesty, your people are protesting on the streets! " Fredrick II  replied, "I and my people have come  to an agreement which satisfies us both. They  are free to say what they please and I am to free  do what I please" Fredrick considered a political and military genius  with many successes to his credit, did not deem it  necessary to be accountable to anyone but himself  as absolute monarch.

Maybe the  current government  in power has not noted the difference. India is supposed to be a modern democratic republic and the citizens opinions and concerns do matter. Ignore the writing on the wall and the price to be paid maybe simply too significant for the leaders. 

Unlike our government, Fredrick II was an effective ruler. He continuously lowered taxes, food prices,  and provided the best education system in Europe and generally people loved and revered him. Fredrick II invested in building infrastructure making Prussia one of the leading economic powers in Europe from an economic backwater.

Fredrick II secured his borders and internal law and order was extremely good and stable.  Justice was there and minorities felt safe and wanted. Trade and commerce flourished.

On the other hand the Indian people are disgusted and angry with their leaders, for bad governance, high inflation, increasing poverty, lack of justice, no accountability either of politicians or government servants.  We now seemed to be possessed by the worst possible combination of traits in our leaders, selfish, manipulative, incompetent,  unethical and very powerful.  God, help us!

Mr. Anna Hazare the civil activist and his team have once again taken it upon themselves to crusade against the government for its numerous acts of omission and commission. My research shows a growing support for them and what they stand for.

Maybe the leaders in the government wish to emulate the overbearing confidence of leaders like Fredrick II. However it would be wise if they also emulate his integrity, capabilities and quiet dignity.

The next few days in India promise to be exciting, entertaining and educational. Undoubtedly in the end we will have a vibrant democracy, a stronger society and hopefully a more accountable government that works.

I love my India, if you do too, then stand up and be counted