Sunday, December 03, 2006
Trying to search news in the newspaper
मेरा भारत महान
तरनतारन में तलवारबाजी, आगरा में पत्थरबाजी, सूरत में आगजनी ये सब हुआ एक दिन में। पूरे हफ्ते को जोड़ लें तो ट्रेनें फुकीं, महाराष्ट्र में सो अलग। सासाराम में एक दंपत्ति को जिंदा फूँक दिया। गैरजिम्मेदारी, लापरवाही, और निकम्मेपन का उदाहरण बना भागलपुर का पुल।
क्या हो गया है हमें? कितने खाली और बेकार हैं हम? सामाजिक जिम्मेदारी और नैतिकता से कितने दूर होते जा रहें हैं हम। कितना भी पैसा आता रहे, देश लोगों से बनता है, जिम्मेदार नागरिकों से बनता है, बात बात पर मार कुटाई करने वालों से नहीं।
कुछ कहने को नहीं है इस चिट्ठे में बस हताशा है, और बेबसी...
अनुराग
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
An Inconvenient Truth
Saw this trailer today. Seems like a must watch movie. Can't wait to get hands on its DVD.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
धर्म, भगवान, धर्मांतरण, मैं और आप
पिछले कई सालों से और कई रूपों में मैने इन शब्दों का सामना किया है, मगर इनका मीमांसा करने से बचता ही रहा हूँ। न खुद को समझाने की कोशिश की, ना किसी दूसरे को (कहीं उसकी "धार्मिक" भावना को ठेस ना लग जाए)।
ये विचार मेरे मन में लेकिन कई तरह से आते ही रहे हैं, तो अब अपनी समझ के अनुसार मैने इनकी विवेचना करने का निर्णय ले ही लिया। आगे बढ़ने से पहले मैं ये साफ कर दूँ कि भगवान पर मेरा पूर्ण विश्वास है और मेरा ये मानना है (जानना नहीं) कि कोई शक्ति है जो कई रूपों और गुणों में सर्वत्र विद्यमान है और हमको चला रही है। इस शक्ति का नाम हम फिलहाल "भगवान" ही मान लेते हैं।
ये भगवान जितना सब जगह है उतना ही हमारे और आपके अंदर है। जब किसी रोते को देखककर आपमें दयाभाव जगता है तो आपके अंदर का भगवान प्रकट हो जाता है। मात्र यही है मेरी और मेरे भगवान की परिभाषा। अहम् ब्रह्मास्मि।
अब आती है भगवान की परिभाषाओं की बात। जहाँ तक मेरा मानना है भगवान (या उसकी परिभाषाएँ) इंसान का आविष्कार हैं, ताकि वह अपनी सीमित दिमाग की समझ से बाहर की चीज़ों को परिभाषित कर सके। ये दुनिया, ब्रह्मांड, जीवन, मृत्यु, प्रकृति आदमी की समझ के बहुत बाहर है, और इंसान हमेशा से इन चीज़ों को समझने की कोशिश करता रहा है। इन्हें समझने के लिए इंसान ने ना सिर्फ भगवान का आविष्कार किया बल्कि उसे शक्ल देने की कोशिश भी कि।
राम, कृष्ण, जीसस ये सब असाधारण व्यक्तित्व और प्रतिभाओं वाले साधारण मनुष्य थे। मगर उनका वर्णन और विवरण करने वाले लेखकों ने, भक्तों ने, अनुयायियों ने इनको महापुरुष और फिर भगवान का रूप दे दिया। यहाँ तक तो फिर भी ठीक था, लेकिन फिर इन महापुरुषों की बातों का अनुपालन करने वालों का एक धर्म का अनुयायी मान लिया गया। संस्कृतियों को धर्म के नाम से बाँट दिया गया और ये तय कर दिया गया कि एक आदमी दूसरे से अलग कैसे है।
धर्म के नाम पर रोटी सेकने वालों की मौज हो गई। इतिहास गवाह है कि बड़े बड़े धार्मिक संस्थान भ्रष्टाचार के गढ़ रहे हैं। धर्म डर दिखाने का एक अच्छा माध्यम भी है, भेंड़चाल से चलने वालों लोगों को चलाने का एक बढ़िया माध्यम भी मिल गया। धर्म को नैतिक आचरण परिभाषित करने का भी जरिआ बना दिआ गया। जो हो गया, सो हो गया, लेकिन सैकड़ों, हजारों साल पहले स्थापित, परिभाषित किए गए नियमों से आज भी समाज को हाँकने का प्रयास किया जाता है। समय के साथ समाज का नियम और आचरण भी बदलते हैं, लेकिन धर्म के तथाकथित ठेकेदार आज भी चाहते हैं कि दुनिया पुराने नियमों के अनुसार आचरण करे और धर्माधिकारियों और भगवान से डरे। जो अपने नियम बनाए और आधुनिक विचारों से चले वो नास्तिक, भ्रष्टाचारी और ना जाने क्या क्या।
कई धर्माधिकारी अपने अनुयायियों पर जोर देते हैं कि वो ज्यादा बच्चे पैदा करें, फिर चाहे पृथ्वी की अतिशय संसाधन दोहन से कमर टूटती है तो टूटती रहे, लेकिन "मेरे जैसा धर्म" मानने वाले की संख्या बढ़ती रहे। कई धर्माधिकारी कपड़े पहनने के नियम भी परिभाषित करते हैं, फिर चाहे पहनने वाले की मर्ज़ी हो या ना हो। कुछ जगह तो संसर्ग करने के नियम भी तय किए जाते हैं। हर इंसान अपनेआप में अलग है, उसे कम से कम अपना निजी जीवन खुद निर्धारण करने का अधिकार तो होना ही चाहिए।
जिस तरह धर्म एक गोरख़धंधा है, और भ्रष्टाचार करने वालों के लिए एक अच्छा माध्यम है, और उसी तरह से धर्मांतरण भी एक गोरख़धंधा है। आपकी वफादारी "एक तरह के भगवान" से "दूसरे तरह के भगवान" में बदलने की कोशिश की जाती है। काफी पैसा भी इसमें बनता है, बड़े बड़े दान मिलते हैं, और समाजसुधार का ढोंग भी होता है। खैर...
सबसे मजेदार बात ये है कि धर्म का ये गोरखधंधा अरबों लोगो को चला रहा है और धर्म करोड़ों लोगो की असमय मौत का कारण रहा है। दुनिया आज भी धर्म के नाम पर बँटी हुई है और आज भी कई लोगों की मौत का कारण धर्म ही है।
कभी कभी सोचता हूँ कि अगर दुनिया में धर्म ही नहीं होता तो कैसा होता...
अनुराग
Couple of ideas on Conservation
I mentioned in my previous blog about recycling and consequently conservation and how we should do it. I have been regularly recycling most of whatever waste generated at my home. However, recently I did somethings to reduce waste which I receive regularly at home. The biggest of them is the mails from credit card companies. Interestingly, the companies from which I already have card, they also keep sending offers for new cards with lots of offer. As a first step, I called all the companies with which I have cards to stop sending me any new offers in mail. It took me half an hour to call American Express, Bank of America, CitiCards and couple of other companies. I canceled all mail subscriptions for me and my wife. They canceled all of this without any question. This half an hour will pay off as I will have to deal with less mails everytime and will not have to shred them.
Then I get offers from DiscoverCard at the rate of one offer per week. So I called them at the number they gave in offer letter and instead of opting for a new card I requested to remove me and my wife's name from their mailing list and they delightfully agreed. Then I visited Val-Pak site and removed my address from their mailing list as well. Just less than an hour of work and I reduced lot of junk mail to my house and helped the environment by less production of these junk mails.
I bought CFLamps which are of low wattage and replaced couple of bulbs I use most in my house. This will be a "little" (just a couple of bucks) costlier option, but I am now using lots of less energy than before and helping environment as well.
In few conferences I attended I got cloth bags (which I considered useless mostly). Now I keep few of these bags in my car always and whenever I go for grocery shopping I try to keep most of the stuff in those bags as well and reduce the usage of polythene bags.
I hope I gave you some very simple ideas in conservation and I hope you will definitely do your part in helping the environment as well. I know these ideas are not new but its always inspiring to see others doing that :), so may be I inspired few of you. Please leave the comments if you did get inspired or if you follow the things I mentioned.
Anurag
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Comment on Mr. Deewan's blog
Just Read Mr. Neeraj Deewan's blog. There were a lot of comments and some people said we identify these problems but do not know the solution. I started commenting on the possible solutions. My comment grew a little long and I am now posting that as post.
Great Article Mr. Deewan. As far as my support goes. We at Virginia Tech (http://www.vt.edu/) are very soon planning to bring a proposal under US-India AKI (Agriculture Knowledge Initiative). The main thrust of proposal from my department would be on water quantity and water quality. I was not involved in this project earlier, but I am trying to go head and get involved and start some root work in this field. I hope this work might improve some things.
I am not sure if this project will be approved or not but I guess this must be a start. On the other hand, I visited the website of Ministry of Water Resources in India, and I will go ahead and make some sense out of whatever is out there. I will try and make some of my inputs available to the government as well, provided they care for it (but I 'll still try).
I hope something will improve.
We can do lots of things at our individual level, and the most important are to teach us and our kids importance of water and observe it as well. Writing and commenting on such thought provoking artical while drinking bottled water and throwing the plastic bottle in trash wouldn't make much of a sense. Some of us are pretty passionate and knowledgeable in our field and feel the sense of conservation. Lets collect some worthwhile stuff on somebody's blog, may be next issue on Nirantar, and talk to a nearby school and give a talk on conservation (water, plastic, energy, anything). We can prepare the strict format of workshop in that blog itself.
We do not want to feel uncool doing these things (consevsation, energy) in our community. But you can disseminate these feelings in your society. Organize a meeting, a small meeting of interested people in your community (5, 10 or 15 or whatever), give the organization some cool name, just meet twice a month to talk about these issues, and you may come up with some localized solutions of lots of problems. This organization can further disseminate these knowledge in local schools or communities.
We organize Durga Pooja, Saraswati Pooja and lots of things. Organize a debate competition, a poster competition, or poem competition on these topics during these occasions. Let people see these events and you can take these opportunities to proliferate these ideas. I can bet one thing, there are loads of people in your community having the same feeling but they are afraid to start something because they always look for some leader (our inherent trait of waiting for Ram and Krishna to kill demons) to start.
We have a lot of power and we can do lots of things. Just think about it.
Anurag
Comments:
Sunday, November 12, 2006
AID Luncheon
Working with AID Virginia Tech Chapter has always been fun, however somehow my timings never allowed me to. AID stands for Association of India's Development, and to fund many of its philanthropic activities they conduct several fund raisers. AID Luncheon is generally a popular way to raise fund, and somehow I managed toget time to support this event. We cooked so many dishes and I cooked Saag-Aloo.
All the dishes were really delicious. I am posting couple of those pics below are rest are here.
Anurag
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
ह्रि्तिक बनाम सुरेश
आज IBNLIVE पे ये दो खबरें एक साथ देखीं। एक ह्रि्तिक की और एक और सुरेश की।
ह्रि्तिक और सुरेश में मात्र इतनी समानता है कि दोनो भारत के एक ही क्षेत्र, विदर्भ से हैं।अब असमानताएँ। ह्रि्तिक को तीन फिल्मों में काम करने के मिल रहे हैं ३५ करोड़, और १० साल के सुरेश के किसान पिता ने ५० हज़ार के कर्ज से परेशान होकर आत्महत्या कर ली। हि्तिक अब सबसे ज्यादा पैसा लेने वाले हिन्दी सिनेमा के कलाकार हैं। सुरेश के पिता उन ४१० लोगो में हैं जिन्होने आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री की विदर्भयात्रा और आश्वासन के बाद आत्महत्या की। सुरेश पढ़ाई छोड़ कर अब खेती करता है, और उम्मीद कर रहा है कि सरकार की तरफ से आत्महत्या कर चुकने वाले किसानों के परिवारों को जो १ लाख रुपए मुआवज़े का वादा है, वो मिल जाए। सुरेश के पिता की आत्महत्या, पिछले कुछ घंटों मे हुई कई आत्महत्याओं में से एक थी।
ये है भारत का ताज़ा छायाचित्र। असमान प्रगति।
मगर यहीं रुकने की आवश्यकता नहीं है। विदर्भ में मरने वालों की संख्या कुल मिला के हज़ार से ऊपर ही है, ये ४१० का नंबर आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री जी की विदर्भयात्रा के बाद का है। यही हाल उत्तर प्रदेश के बुंदेलखंड का भी है। कष्टदायक बात ये कि सरकार की तरफ से किसानों को मिलने वाली मुआवज़े की रकम होती है, २ रू, ५ रू, १२ रू, जिनको बैंक में जमा कराने के लिए ५०० रू का अकाउंट खोलना पड़ता है।
देखतें हैं कितनी और आत्महत्याओं के बाद बहुत बड़े अर्थशास्त्री हमारे प्रधानमंत्री की आँखें खुलती हैं। राज्य सरकार से तो खैर उम्मीद ही कुछ नहीं है। महाराष्ट्र के मुख्यमंत्री को फिल्मी पार्टियों से ही फुर्सत नहीं है।
प्रयास करूँगा कि इस बार अपने रेडियो कार्यक्रम में इस पर चर्चा कर सकूँ, और किसी विश्वसयनीय स्रोत से कुछ छोटी मदद कर सकूँ जोकि भारत सरकार के दो रुपए से ज्यादा ही होंगे।
अनुराग
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Where is human heading to...
I saw a very good presentation by Dr. Puri, HOD, Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Tech, titled "Future of Energy: A Perspective." He shed light on politics involving energy, new and possible developments in this field and so on.
He mentioned somethings about green house gases, and possible environmental aspects of all the energy sources. One important thing he mentioned was the amount of deduction we need to bring in greenhouse gases by 2100 is a daunting task, and from my understanding, it is impossible.
We are increasingly growing our dependence on energy sources and obviously increasing greenhouses gases as well. What I am thinking is that we have already started seeing adverse environmental effects. Environment has changed significantly in last century and last few decades have been worse.
The situation right now is that if we cut down the harm to environment right at this moment, we will have to face the brunt of environment for next many decades, and I don't see any sign of reduction in environmental harms in near future. Whatever is being done or shown to being done is not at all worth (we know its not worth). The politics and policies are still being guided by money making organizations, not environmental ones. Individually we have enough concerns not to think about environment.
Besides what's happening at individual and industrial level to ruin the environment, a lot of harm is being done by ongoing violence, wars and lot is in store with future wars. Today we have enough ammunitions to completely finish human race more than dozen times from earth completely. Some of these ammunitions which are being used 24/7 at different parts of world can cause significant environmental damage as well.
Based on current environment conditions, decreasing drinking water supply, reducing size of glaciers all over the world, future projections of environment degradation, growing religious intolerance which will lead to future conflicts, prospects of wars and their consequences, indifference of big chunk of world population towards environment, I foresee some radical change in earth's environment in next few years.
Most of the people from my generation will live to see some big environmental catastrophies. I don't think or say that world will end or human race will vanish, but the face of earth in few years from now will not be the same. Future generations will certainly be affected by it and will blame us.
Some of you might think that I am painting a dreadful picture and being pessimistic. If you really think so, then just list down five things you have done to help your environment and five things you have done to harm your environment. You will be surprised!
After you read this and may be get inspired to do something, come back after two weeks and make the list again, you will be surprised again.
My two cents, join some environmental organization near your house, learn how you can make a difference, do whatever you can, car pooling, recycling, sensible driving, sensible use of electricity, planting trees whatever. Time is very cruel, never comes back.
Anurag
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
कुछ कम्प्यूटर की
इस बार के चिट्ठे में मैं कुछ एसे कम्प्यूटर कार्यक्रमों के बारे में बताऊँगा जिससे आपके रोज़मर्रा के कुछ काम आसान हो सकेंगे।
1. Foxit Reader - आप पीडीएफ फाइलों को ......पूरा चिट्ठा
Friday, September 01, 2006
Interesting capability of adding references to your reference manager
I just figured out a pretty interesting and neat tool for searching articles. Open http://scholar.google.com/ and on the right side of search bar you will find a link called "Scholar Preferences." Click on the "Scholar Preferences,", and you will be navigated to a preferencs page. The third preference is Library Link. Write the name of your University library and add it to your preferred library. Now, whenever you search any article or book, a link "Library Search" will appear with every searched item to show that item inyour University library. You can play with other preferences and then go to sixth preference which is Bibliography Manager. Check the radio button "Show Links to inport citations into" "Choose appropriate manager". For example, if you use endnote, choose endnote, and save preferences. Now you can search anything in http://scholar.google.com/. and it will show a link to import to Endnote. Click on the link and if you are using Firefox, it will conveneintly open appropriate handle to import it into Endnote. Check the option which says "Do this automatically for files like this from now on" and Enjoy. Anurag
Sunday, August 20, 2006
हिन्दुस्तान का असमंजस ः भगवान भी मूर्ख बनाने आ पहुँचे
अब और क्या कहें? वहाँ दिल्ली मे हमारी सरकार आरक्षण का बिल केबिनट की बैठक में पास करने जा रही है और इधर भारतवासियों को मूर्तियों को दूध पिलाने से फुरसत नहीं है। मुझ् लगता है कि भारत की अधिकतर जनता इतनी हताश हो चुकी है कि उसका भरोसा अब सिर्फ इन टोने टोटकों पर रह गया है। अब भगवान के धरती पर आने की ही प्रतीक्षा है।
सबसे मजे़दार तो ये समाचार चैनल है जो कि सबसे गैर ज़रूरी खबर का जोर शोर से प्रचार करते हैं। अब ये खबर तो इतनी बेकार है कि और लिखने की इच्छा कर ही नहीं रही। बस God Bless India
अनुराग
So the cabinet is going to clear the reservation bill
The cabinet has decided to clear the reservation bill as you can read in the news below.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/cabinet-likely-to-clear-quota-bill/19079-4.html
I seriously do not know what this Govt. is upto. I am not sure what happened to the response Indian Govt. was supposed to present to Supreme Court about the criteria for deciding OBCs. Please let me know in the comments if you have idea about that.
Raising the same questions, it is the greatest mockery of India and its citizens. The country whose Government did not conduct caste based census for last 80 years is proposing reservation on caste basis, on a data which is 85 years old. This is a pathetic situation. Any support to this data will be useless.
The way we the Indians got up against amendments in RTI act, the same way we should oppose any bill which divides us by caste. None of the political parties are going to oppose this reservation bill due to vote bank politics so this is upto us to oppose it.
I hope some day sanity will prevail.
Anurag
PS: Was watching "Nayak" yesterday again. Wish it could come true
Monday, August 14, 2006
India's Leading National Daily
This is the cover page of India's Leading National Daily. Complete attention has been given to blinking ads, but editors forgot about spelling!
Anurag
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Feedback: Indian Government Website Grievances
With regard to my feedback to one of the Indian Government website, I received the following response, from the email ID: NIC indiaportal(at)nic(dot)in
Anurag
National Portal of India
(http://india.gov.in)
Comment:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for visiting the National Portal of India – http://india.gov.in and keep sending us your valuable feedbacks. Your valuable suggestions/ feedbacks are forwarded to the Portal Coordination Committee for consideration. You may suggest your friend/s to visit http://india.gov.in.
Web Administrator
Forwarded message :
Name: Anurag MIshra
Email: mishranurag(at)gmail(dot)com
Feedback:
My few suggestions are: 1. The site should be in Hindi, with an option to view in English. 2. The site should have bigger fonts. 3. The major links should be placed at one side of the page hidden into categories. I will add more comments as I navigate more through this site. Thanks Anurag
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Did Rakhi Kiss Mika, or Mika Kissed Rakhi?
Indian Media followed this "Rakhi-Mika" saga religiously for quite a few weeks. They showed pretty interesting clips on TV, made them to talk on phone on live TV and did frame by frame analysis of the party video. I am not sure what they have found out, but what I have realized is that probably India has most irresponsible media.
Media is supposed to be a pillar of democracy. Its a sorry state that this fourth pillar in India is losing its relevance, importance and responsibility. I have been saying this after following the news by Times of India, Rediff, CNN-IBN, ZeeNews Channel, AajTak, NDTV, BBCHindi, HindustanTimes etc. Unfortunately I rate BBC (a UK company) as the best news source amongst these for India. Doordarshan, I haven't followed for long, but I would rate it better than ZeeNews and AajTak.
It appears that these news sites and news channel have forgotten what they are supposed to do. They just try to get most spicy news they can and present it on TV again and again, until they get another spice to offer. Most of you might have seen or experienced the kind of stuff they suffer, but few examples are: Rakhi-Mika Saga, saving Prince and its coverage for 50 hours, unnecessary elongated coverage of cricket, BCCI and its politics, Rahul Mahajan's engagement and all other useless stuff.
The media tend to get the news which it can commercialize the most. These days these news channels have also started presenting crime based programs which are mostly gross dramatization of actual crimes.
Also the news is presented with lowest research, poorest graphics, stupid details, and useless repetition. When you compare Indian news channels with their US (CNN, FOX), and UK (BBC) counterparts, it feels shameful. BBC, CNN and FOX not only have good reputation, their news coverage also affect government policies.
There has been lot of discussion at how much useless news media covers like this discussion in BBCHindi, but what I would like to see in the news is:
1. A well researched report on actual population status of India, what is projected for next few years, its repercussions, what common man can do about it, what some social service organizations are doing about it, and what's the Govt.'s stand on it.
2. The actual status of water availability in cities and villages of India, its quality, imbalance of demand and supply, future possibilities and again Government's stand.
3. The energy status in India, what President of India has been emphasizing upon, what other countries are doing about it, how much is the gap between demand and supply, what common man can do, what are relevant studies/research and what Govt. is doing.
4. The garbage thrown by us! Where it is dumped, how it is dumped, how much recycling is done, how much more recycling can be done, how much common man can support to it, what should Govt. do about it, what studies/researche are being done in that field and lot more.
5. There are hundreds of social service organizations doing very good work in various fields, cover them. Parivartan organization has been present right in Delhi for so many years, yet people knew about it after Mr. Arvind Kejriwal was chosen for Ramon Magsaysay (International) award
6. Everybody has been shouting about farmers committing suicides, but none of the reporters actually went to villages, studied the issues and presented them in a fair manner. As a result, all of us know about the fact that farmers are committing suicide, but no one knows why.
7. Actual issues in North East India, their development, why they still appear to be behind rest of India. I bet 80% Indians won't be able to count the seven North-Eastern states. Try it!
8. Coverage of key international events with proper research and information.
9. What's happening in science and technology? Why Indian customers are still paying double the price of electronic items than US customers. Why couldn't we pressurize Microsoft to sell Windows for cheap in India? What options people have besides pirating?
10. How is urban life different in India than in other countries? What amenities do we as Indians miss? Why have we accepted low standards for our life?
11. Several social, societal issues, changing mentalities, research studies in Universities.
There are several important issues like the ones I mentioned above which need to be covered in proper light and need more importance than Rahul Mahajan's engagement and Rakhi-Mika saga. It's also important for the viewers to actually request these news channel and news-sites to present proper information with proper research. When I emphasize on proper research for news stories, you actually need to see the kind of research which some very good news magazine do.
Finally, the quality of news presenter. It appears that news correspondents and news presenters are very less educated, low confident, poorly trained and have poor public speaking skills. I have been following news on CNN only and sometimes on Zee News and TV Asia. Not even once I have seen Jack Cafferty, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Lou Dobbs, Paula Zahn even falter while speaking. They have amazing confidence and also very good grasp on the subject they are covering.
I am really looking forward for the start of a more responsible news media in India, as that will decide the pace of India's real development.
Anurag
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
This is the way Indian Government Works
According to the animal statistics there is only one Donkey in Delhi. It's hard to believe cause parliamentary session is going on and we gave seats for 545 there.
Anyways, the following blog shows how the Govt. Deptt. has been doing census calculations.
http://neerajdiwan.blogspot.com/2006/08/blog-post.html
I can understand some errors in this census but this a big blunder.
Enjoi
Anurag
Sunday, July 23, 2006
हमारा पैसा, हमारा हिसाब - सूचना का अधिकार और जन आंदोलन।
आज ही कुछ मित्रों (AID-Association for India's Development-Blacksburg, Va, Chapter) ने सूचना के अधिकार पर चल रही ताजा बहस के संबंध में जानकारी भेजी और इस विडियो का स्रोत भी दिया।
सन् २००१ में भारत सरकार ने आम जनता को सूचना का अधिकार दिया था। इस अधिकार के अनुसार कोई भी आम व्यक्ति सरकार से किसी सरकारी परियोजना के संबंध में सूचना प्राप्त कर सकता है। अब मुद्दा... पूर्ण आलेख
The most shameless man - Manmohan Singh
This is the worst government I have ever seen. We have a Prime Minister about whom nobody cares about. To get some work done, he always has to blackmail his cabinet by "his resignation", fellow ministers do or say whatever they want whenever they want without consultation with cabinet and PM, PM asks farmers of India to look for some other source of income besides farming, and now the government headed by him is tabling the bill of "Office of President" without any change.
Relevant News
President Kalam returned this bill for careful consideration and the decision of government to table the bill without any change shows that,
1. they don't care for the Office of President
2. they can do whatever they want to preserve their chair
3. since they do not care and respect the office of President, that means they do not care about India and its people as well.
Congress is not moving beyond its "Emergency" time mentality, and I think this is the time to uproot this Govt.
Anurag
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Indian Government Website Grievances
"I posted the following message on http://home.nic.in/# Hope to get a good reply and I will post the same."
Dear Sir/Madam,
Recently I have started visiting websites of Indian Government to look for some information. Unfortunately I have realized that the websites of Indian Government mostly designed by NIC are examples of bad web designing. Here are the reasons.
1. Speed --> I am right now on a connection of 1Gbit/s, and all the websites on my computer load in a snap, unlike Indian Govt. Website.
2. Support for other browsers --> There is minimal support for other browsers in all the Indian Government websites, and one cannot read Hindi fonts in any other browser except Internet Explorer.
3. Site Designed for--> Generally sites are designed to appear best in 800 X 600 resolution which was a good practice five years back, but not now, and we need to proceed to 1024 X 768 resolution at least, ASAP.
4. Usability --> It gets difficult to navigate or finding proper links in these websites due to poor "usability" (which is an Engineering Course in itself). For eg. the page on which I am writing this comment, does not have links divided into proper categories, has many links dead, the comment box in which I am writing is just 20 px by 20 px.
5. Flashing links appear good in porn websites, but not in government websites. Not all people are so good with their eyes who are visiting these websites.
6. I would suggest you to hire some good technical writers and usability specialists before designing websites.
I have posted same comments in http://general-mishranurag.blogspot.com
Please contact me if you need further clarification or some assistance.
Thank You
Anurag Mishra
PS: After I sent the query, the page reloaded, with a blank form and I don't know if my query was accepted or rejected, so I went on a related link and submitted it again, and I hope it went through.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
इंटरनेट और हिन्दी
ये बात बड़ी ही रोचक है की मुख्यतः अंग्रेज़ी भाषा में विकसित हुआ कंप्यूटर और इंटरनेट आज बड़े ही बेहतरीन तरीके से अन्य भाषाओं में इस्तेमाल हो रहा है। आज अंग्रेज़ी का न्यूनतम ज्ञान रखने वाला भी कंप्यूटर और इंटरनेट भलीभांती प्रयोग कर सकता है।
हिन्दी भाषा सीखने, समझने, और...... पूर्ण आलेख
Thursday, July 06, 2006
A must read article
I would ardently request you to please read this article in its entirety.
Mr. Prime Minister the heart is broken
Most of us; net surfing, blog writing, kool, hip and urban people never realize or care about the conditions of poor farmers in India. Most of the discussion regarding that are rejected as not being hip and not of our direct concern.
The above article is written by Jawandhia, who has an MSc degree from Nagpur. He is not just a leader of the farmers organisation Shetkari Sangathana, but he has spent his life, in his own small but determined way, trying to bring sanity in the governments agriculture policy.
This article will give you a pretty deep info about farmers conditions and Govt. policy regarding that. I would request you to read the article and understand the pain of the farmer who is feeding us.
Anurag
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
सरकार या सरकस
भारतवर्ष की यूपीए सरकार को देखकर ऐसा ही लगता है। जिसकी जो मर्जी़ आए वही करता है। कुछ दिन पहले अर्जुन सिंह को अचानक सामाजिक न्याय का भूत सवार हुआ और उन्होंने आरक्षण का शगूफ़ा छोड़ दिया। नतीजा सबके सामने है। मीरा कुमार को लगा की वो कहीं सामाजिक न्याय की रेस में पीछे ना छूट जाए तो उन्होंने खुलेआम सभी निजी कंपनिओं को अपने यहाँ आरक्षण लगाने की धमकी दे डाली।
पूरा चिट्ठा यहाँ पढ़ें।
Monday, July 03, 2006
Inundated Mumbai, Reducing Dal Lake size, and no scope of Water Resource (Civil) Engineering in India
Quite unrelated...uhh!
Well one thing is common amongst these, "Water"!
It is an extremely interesting fact that the commodity, which was given prime importance in the thousands of years old "Indus" civilization is neglected completely in the most modern of times in India.
No matter how much investigation is done, it is evident that the biggest reason of inundation in any city is "drainage,", the reduction in the size of Dal lake or any other water body is drainage, and reducing supply of water in India is improper water management (includes drainage), which are widely covered in civil and agricultural Engineering.
In US, when even a small parking lot is constructed, a proper study is done to manage the water resulting from a 10 year, 25 year or larger storms. In India, every other construction makes sure to stop the drainage.
This problem is rampant in any other Indian City. I would call any city in India an extra ordinary example of Civil Engg. where students can learn how not to do things. New colonies, houses, marketing complexes are made without taking care of water disposal and supply. On a side note, I think India is one of the very few countries where water supply and sewer lines run side by side, and India also has one sewer system for storm water and waste water.
All the cities on the bank of rivers dispose their "shit" in their "Holy Rivers."
No matter how great India becomes with the software progress, or industrial progress, negligence of this basic commodity will leave us with nothing. The current condition of water resources in India might bring us to a position of buying water from foreign countries, and it may become a reason of social unrest in coming years (There have been incidences of violence in water scarce villages, Link).
The moral of the story is that Government needs to invest heavily in improving the drainage and water supply system in Indian Cities. All the other facilities, roads, railways everything runs on this foundation only. These projects need to be properly planned and heavy scaled. Attempting to clean a river few days before rain (as we did in Mumbai) is not gonna yield anything.
At the individual level, people should make sure not to throw things in sewer which may block things, and not to block drainage while conducting new construction.
Anurag
Thursday, June 29, 2006
1500 full bags of used plastic...
I know its a topic most of us know about, that we should recycle and its environmental advantages and all other details. However most of us don't do that (including me, until now).
Few days earlier, I noticed that in the apartment complex I live, there is a nice recycling center and few people use it as well. It has separate dumpster for papers, glossy magazines, plastic, cardboard, glass etc.
Inspired by that, I made a separate trash bin in my apartment to collect plastic and paper (I used the trash bin near my study table for paper stuff). In one week, the total amount of plastic generated in my apartment was one full walmart bag. I thought may be I used too much plastic in this week, but it was again the same amount the next week and so on. I was frustrated to see the amount of plastic we use in daily life.
Milk cans, yogurt cans, oil cans, polythene wrapper for refrigerated vegetables, polythene wrapper for cheese, bread, wrapper for candies and chocolates, shampoo bottle, toothbrush, toothpaste tube, cover of clothes, tags with the clothes, plastic bags in which we bring stuff home, and too much more than that. Astonishingly, this is from a family of just two people.
I felt ashamed to see that because I realized that without recycling in my life I have thrown about 1500 full bags of plastic in trash. If you spread that much of plastic, it might cover a whole football field :(. Just multiply this amount by the number of your friends whom you know don't recycle.
I also started collecting cardboard, and I was using lot of that as well. packing cardboard, rolls on which paper towels and tissue papers are wound, box of corn flakes etc. I was not using glass as much (its different after a beer party though).
At this point in time, I can always say that our previous generation did everything to destroy our environment and didn't do much to save it. I would hate to see future generation saying that. I would request all my readers to just think about it and do their small contribution to the earth, environment, society and future generation. Please recycle your waste as much as you can.
Initially it might appear clumsy or confusing to have more than one trash bins for different kinds of waste, but it becomes normal and its worth it.
In India, we used to sell plastic and old papers to "kabadiwaala" which was a good way to recycle, but that's definitely not enough. There are some attempts by local administrative bodies to encourage recycling as well. However, more local bodies need to realize the importance of recycling, and start waste management as is there in USA.
Anurag
Sunday, June 25, 2006
A nice compilation of advantages of UBUNTU over other Operating Systems
One of my my friends in London prepared the following document as a proposal to use EDUBUNTU (Educational UBUNTU) as the operating system for the schools. I helped him a little bit in preparing the document as well. Its very important to realize the importance of free OS like UBUNTU, especially for developing countries like India, because the software costs are still whopping and most of the people rely on pirated softwares, whh are vulnerable to security threats and viruses. You can read the whole article or those parts that interests you :)
Link to the original Article
Overview of Edubuntu – a FREE operating system for schools
About Edubuntu
Edubuntu is a free Linux-based operating system, designed specifically for use in educational environments. It provides a centralised management of configuration, users and processes, complete with collaborative working facilities. The Edubuntu package comes complete with some of the very best free software and digital materials for education.
The principle of Edubuntu implementation is that an educator can setup a computer lab, or establish an online learning environment in around one hour! Then administer that environment without extensive computer knowledge, or expensive further training.
Edubuntu has high quality support provided by an active community of enthusiasts and professionals.
The Edubuntu Manifesto (abridged)
The team behind Edubuntu makes the following public commitment to its users:
• | Edubuntu will always be free of charge. |
• | Edubuntu includes the very best in translations and accessibility infrastructure that the Free Software community has to offer, to make Edubuntu usable by as many people as possible. |
• | Edubuntu is released regularly and predictably; a new release is made every six months. |
• | Edubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of free and open source software development. |
About Ubuntu
Edubuntu is Ubuntu, customised for classroom use and is currently the most popular Linux distribution. Ubuntu, its creators, developers and users have won multiple awards in the industry for Best Distribution , Best Community , Outstanding Contribution to Linux , Linux Journal's Reader's Choice , and many more.
"Ubuntu" is an ancient African word, meaning "humanity to others". Ubuntu also means, "I am what I am because of who we all are". The Ubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.
User
The Edubuntu desktop provides a child friendly (but easily customisable) intuitive environment, which is similar enough to other major operating systems (in particular Windows) that it takes just a moment for most users to orientate themselves and begin working.
Edubuntu comes with many hundreds of pre-installed applications to enable almost all users to perform whatever task they please immediately . The Edubuntu repository (a massive store of trusted software) also contains over sixteen thousand further packages , which can be accessed and installed easily and quickly if desired.
The pre-installed software includes a full office suite that is compatible with Microsoft Office, so enabling use of pre-existing files and exchange of files with Windows users, with only very rare compatibility issues to worry about. Also included are many educational games, graphics design software, desktop publishing applications, course-planning software, SchoolTool (for course planning, student management, calendar and timetabling, etc.) and hundreds more.
The installed educational software includes games to practice maths, spelling, reading and advances through to include typing, chemistry, languages, geography, etc. even astronomy, and computer programming!
All of the software can be given to (or downloaded by) students or parents. It may then be used at home, ensuring total continuity from school to home. There are no licensing issues with doing this.
Administrator
Edubuntu has been designed throughout to ensure it can be administered by teachers, rather than requiring specific IT personnel. This means that the skill set required is no more than that of an interested, informed and competent teacher.
The Ubuntu (and related) websites provide comprehensive documentation regarding all aspects of installing, administering, maintaining and using Edubuntu (and other products in the Ubuntu range).
The vast and active Ubuntu community provides rapid and effective support through the forums; however, professional support is also available from many companies, in particular Canonical, a company created specifically for providing professional support for Ubuntu, by Ubuntu's creator.
By using Edubuntu's terminal server system to create a network, only the server for each group needs software maintenance. This means only one computer to apply security patches, only one PC to update virus software, only one PC to reconfigure when anything changes (e.g. policies, colour schemes, pupil names, teachers, the theme of the week, or term, etc.)
Security
Linux distributions are widely regarded as the most secure operating systems available today.
Some simple facts demonstrate this:
• | Number of known viruses for Windows = 60,000 (approx) |
• | Number of known viruses for Linux = 40 (Approx) and most of these are confined to research laboratories! |
• | The German military have banned the use of Microsoft products due to concern over “back-doors” built-in to the operating system. |
• | The Chinese government use Linux as their official operating system, due to similar security fears. |
• | The USA 's National Security Agency ( NSA ) developed Secure Linux for its own use. |
• | All open-source software (where the developers publish the code) is under constant scrutiny from peer review , something that can never happen with closed-source applications. |
• | To install applications using Linux requires an administrator password , so a pupil cannot bring in a disc from home and break the system, similarly a virus infection cannot actually do anything without admin privileges. |
Hardware
Edubuntu and Linux in general are very effective at using resources efficiently. When compared with the more popular operating systems, Linux requires lower specifications to perform the same task, uses them more economically and can be customised more easily to produce even sleeker operation.
However, where Edubuntu really excels is the built-in terminal server implementation. This enables just one powerful machine (the server) to provide a pre-processed feed to many “ thin-clients ” (low powered computers, often recycled, obsolescent machines , with no hard drive). The powerful machine does all the work for the thin-client, which just has to render the graphics on the screen and feedback the mouse and keyboard operations to the server.
This enables users to continue using (and often take out of retirement ) older computers which were considered useless.
Side Note:
It may be possible to “cluster” a couple or a few mid powered machines to create one “ super-computer ”. This groups computers and shares resources as though they were all in one enclosure.
For example, four single processor computers with 512Mb RAM each, would “cluster” to produce, in effect, a four-processor server with 2 GB RAM.
When upgrading, the cost is minimal as an upgrade to the server has an immediate impact on the performance of all the client computers!
Teaching
The effect of implementing Edubuntu is to allow teachers to take control of their computers, their software and thus their classrooms, rather than relying on some, often-absent, IT specialist . They will better understand the process of deploying the equipment and software. They will have masses of fantastic, pre-installed, educational software at hand, all free ; and they can get on with the job of teaching children, rather than fighting with their computers.
Cost
The cost is one truly astounding part of Edubuntu - it is free!
Edubuntu comes with hundreds of complimentary applications!
Edubuntu provides unlimited access to hundreds more educational packages! These alone would cost thousands of pounds when purchasing equivalent software for proprietary operating systems.
There are no lock-in contracts with Edubuntu or any of the supplied software, meaning you are free to change at any time, with no financial penalty.
When using the forums, support is also free of charge!
By recycling old computers to create a terminal server network, the hardware cost is minimal!
If required, to serve the network, the purchase cost of just one high-powered server is far less than many single mid-powered machines, one for each student or classroom.
References
http://www.edubuntu.org/ | Edubuntu website |
http://distrowatch.com/ | Linux distribution popularity chart |
http://www.ubuntu.com/ | Ubuntu website |
http://ubuntuforums.org/ | Ubuntu community forums |
http://www.schooltool.org/ | ScoolTool is included with Edubuntu |
http://moodle.org/ | Course Management Package |
http://edu.kde.org/ | KDE Edutainment Project |
http://www.skolelinux.org/portal | Skolelinux website (another education focused operating system) |
http://k12linux.org/contents.html | Linux project resources |
http://www.tux4kids.com/ | Tux4Kids website |
http://schoolforge.net/ | Open Source based groups working with schools |
http://www.ofset.org/freeduc | directory of free software for education |
http://canonical.com/ | Professional Ubuntu support company |
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/linux_vs_windows_viruses/ | Register article discussing viruses |
http://www.aaxnet.com/news/M010318.html | Security article |
http://manueldublan.org/computerlab/ | Case study of a school implementing Edubuntu |
BECTA References:
http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Information_Sheetrev.pdf
http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf
http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Case_Study_16.pdf
Anurag
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Love Marriages In India
Most of us have read or seen news about a teenager committing suicide as her parents did not support her involving in a love affair with a guy, and tried to control her forcefully. We do not need to look for specific news, but most of us know these to be pretty normal issues in India, especially in middle class. After looking at this news, and other related news, I decided to write on how the mechanics of Love Marriages work in India, and how it should work.
Before going further, I would like to clarify that,
1. I am not against arranged marriages, and
2. I am not against age old Indian culture and tradition.
3. I am not against the caring and loving nature of Indian parents as well.
Parents in India generally believe that their offspring are not wise enough to choose a suitable spouse for them. And, if the young generation do decide on that, they most likely make the wrong decision, and then in most cases it becomes a duty for the parents to do otherwise.
I think that rather than believing or disbelieving on the abilities of young generation to take this decision, it is a duty of every parent to prepare their kids for this decision, and other important life decisions as well.
I have read and heard at many places that marriage is the most important procession in the lives of Indian and it is also an industry worth thousands of crores. It becomes ironical that marriage becomes most important procession for the parents most of the times rather than the bride and groom.
I believe that kids must be taught few basic things by their parents and then the kids must be allowed to exercise their choice when they grow up. To prepare them for the future, not only the marriage there are some things which every parent must talk to their kids about.
1. Appropriate sex education - It doesn't only include the mechanics of sex, but as a way of expressing intense love and trust for the partner, a source of several diseases including AIDS if unprotected, a probable cause of emotional disturbance if it doesn't involve love.
2. Future life partner - What are the things they should look for in a probable partner, when they think about it?
3. Meeting with friends - Parents should be ready to meet and mingle with friends of their kids if possible. They should also encourage their kids to bring their friends home sometimes. When kids talk about their friends or probably boy friend or girl friend, parents should listen to it and talk as well. They should just live the life of their kids with them. This will instill confidence in kids with their parents and at the same time parents will be able to watch out for something abnormal.
3. Love - If the parents come to know that their kids are in love, they should take it normal and I think it is normal for the young people to fall in love with each other.
4. Marriage - In many cases when two young people decide to marry, parents tend to disagree and provide reasonings that love marriages do not succeed and it's not our culture. Instead if they support the kids, explain what marriage is all about including new life style, new responsibilities, take them to pre-marital counseling, the love marriages will succeed as well.
5. Religion and Caste - This is the most troublesome issue. Many people think that if their kids marry in different caste, something xx xx xx will happen, earth will tear up, volcanoes will erupt and Lord Shiva will himself come to the earth to cause destruction.... And then there is an issue of Family's age old respect or "Khaandaan ki Izzat". I believe, happy and successful generation with lots of respect for their previous generation would increase family's respect a lot more than the act of controlling young generation forcefully and/or suicide attempts.
What I have written above is a collection of sequential thoughts which according to me should be followed not only for successful marriage, but successful young generation as well. These are the reflections of experiences earned by keenly observing the world around, and comparing the contrasts between Indian and American cultures as well.
Anurag
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Expectations
I had read this story long back. Got it again today and thought to share.
The MORAL of the following story is just toooo good .
A butcher watching over his shop is really surprised when he saw a dog coming inside the shop. He shoos him away.
But later, the dog is back again. So, he goes over to the dog and notices he has a note in his mouth. He takes the note and it reads "Can I have 12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please". The dog has money in his mouth, as well.
...
Whole Story
Anurag
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
So, this is the respect of first citizen of India
Congress is not planning to reconsider the "Office of Profit" bill returned back by President.
click here for the actual news
Congress has always relied upon using its shameless politics to make most of the votes. THey considered people as votes. Earlier Congress always made President who would not question the Govt. at any point of time. Now since they have got one who can question them, they are getting into playing dirty politics as they have done in the past.
The implementation of Emergency by Indira Gandhi, reversal of SC decision on Shah Bano case by Rajiv Gandhi, opening the Ayodhya Mandir, the reservation row, everything was done to satisfy some group of people or earn votes. These are just few examples, else the whole post-independence era is filled with such activities by Congress.
Congress never relied on long term policies and decision which could benefit India as a whole. Everything was done to satisfy few power hungry people or a group to gain votes.
With regard to current "Office of Profit" bill, Congress just wants to clear few posts especially for the current ruler of Congress Ms. Sonia Gandhi, and it has no intention of looking into its repercussions. When the bill was returned by President, most of us thought (with a sense of doubt) that at least now the Govt. will do something about it.
I believe that if Congress returns this bill to President as it is, then that would be the biggest disrespect of the First Citizen of India. If it actually takes place, I would recommend Dr. Kalam to resign from his President post and start a new political party afresh. Enough is Enough. He should recruit members of his new party in the same way as the officers in Indian Military are recruited. This new party will lead the country with the most scientific and appropriate approach.
I think now that Govt. should really cross its limit of shamelessness and force a revolution to happen, else it will lead us to the future I predicted in my earlier blog.
With the expectations of brighter future of India
Anurag
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Another set of worthless arguments
The interview of P. Chidambaran by Mr. Karan Thapar now shows another set of all misleading arguments leading to reservations. It is a ridiculous interview. Chidamabarn trying to show extra calm and composure evaded the harsh questions by Thapar.
I have just one question, if reservations have been succesful for so long in South, that means Social Justice has come in Southern States. If southern states have social justice then there should be no reservation now. And I think that was the spirit of reservations.
Interview Link
Look at this interesting excerpt.
Karan Thapar: Let me ask the question differently - after 50 odd years of reservations and the controversy that they have created, atleast in some quarters, do you believe that a review of how they function would be a sensible thing to do?
P Chidambaram: If review means questioning the justification of reservation, I say 'no'.
Karan Thapar: A review means questioning whether they have worked effectively or not and if it is to be found that they haven't worked effectively, that would end up questioning this justification as well. So, there is no doubt that one could lead to the other, but not necessarily.
P Chidambaram: I would not give my view, which I have to give in the Cabinet, but I know from experience that reservations have helped many members of the OBCs to rise in the Southern states. I am totally convinced about it.
Let's celebrate cause Mr. Chidamabaram is convinced, and rest of the Indians should believe in his words.
Other interesting excerpt.
Karan Thapar: Let me then come to another issue. The Government has committed itself to extending 27 per cent reservations to OBCs in higher education on the basis of the recommendation of the Mandal report. Your late leader, Rajiv Gandhi, who you revere, in a speech in Parliament on September 6, 1990 effectively showed that Mandal was inaccurate, it was unscientific, it was misleading and in very many areas, it was actually wrong.
P Chidambaram: I know that speech.
Karan Thapar: His conclusion is important. In the end, it may be emphasised that the survey has no pretensions to being a piece of academic research. On what basis then today, as successors to Rajiv Gandhi, do you want to keep pursuing the report?
P Chidambaram: Please remember, after that speech, in 1991, a Congress Government implemented reservation in Government jobs and that has come to stay.
Karan Thapar: So, in other words, Mr Gandhi's position has been forgotten?
Reservation was implemented before Congress Govt. by V.P. Singh. Its an interesting fact that Rajeev Gandhi refuted the factes of Mandal Commission.
My verdict, hopeless situation. Meira Kumar recommended increase in SC quota now. Please look at my previous blog, and see how we are moving steadily towards our own destruction.
Anurag
Sunday, June 04, 2006
विनय ओर आत्मसम्मान की कमी
पिछले चिट्ठे में मैंने भारत में बढ़ती कई समस्याओं की तरफ एक साथ ध्यान दिलाने का प्रयास किया था
। हम सब अपनी तरफ से इनके हल समझने और सुलझाने का प्रयास करते हैं। ये चिट्ठा मेरी तरफ से इस
दिशा में एक कदम है।
मेरा मानना है की हमारी आधी से ज्यादा समस्याओं का कारण है हममें विनय और आत्मसम्मान की कमी।
आप किसी भी समस्या के मूल में जाएंगे तो आपको इस बात का एहसास होगा की...
Complete post
India - What's in store for us...
I posted the same views in an Orkut Community (Anti Reservation Action Forum)
I wanted to paint a hypothetical picture of what's in store for India in next few years.
1. Regarding infastructure, India is on a verge of collapse. If you don't believe it; Delhi Government requested industries to close their evening shifts in March 06. Although there are numerous other examples, I will stay put here.
2. As most of you have figured out, Nuclear deal was a face saving deal by Govt., as they had to make any arrangement at any cost to get more energy, because India is on a verge of severe energy crisis. The deal is still not finalized, thanks to slow processing of US Govt.
3. The other fact which Government has been hiding from us, is that the scarcity of water in couple of years may come to a level where we may have to buy water from neighboring countries (You may not believe it, but statistics say so :( ).
4. Amidst the infrastructural collapse and pressure of Govt. on private companies to implement reservation, most MNCs and private companies will start moving to China and may be Pak.
5. This will drastically reduce the growth and will increase the unemployement rate and also the social unrest in the society.
6. Since, it may appear that these issues started right after decalaration of reservation, it will widen the rift in the society, and politicians will definitely project it that way so that they can avoid the blame.
7. Based on this rift, politicians will promote Aryan invasion theory, by which they will say that upper castes are actually Aryans. They came from outside and started oppressing the real natives of India and made them lower cast. (they did promote that theory in 1990. Remember: Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwaar, Inko maaro Joote Chaar)
8. This may lead to events as serious as ethnic cleansing as we saw in Germany in 1940s and presently in Darfur, Sudan. So hypothetical lower castes will try to kill or displace hypothetical upper caste from India.
9. These serious issues will increase the terrorism and unrest in India, and it will be declared a terrorist state.
I shudder when I imagine what will happen after that. But I would like to know, what situation appears unrealistic to you? The present short sightedness and selfish ministers will not miss a chance to make advantages of this situation.
God Bless India
Anurag
PS: Please don't take me wrong. I love my country and I am very much patriotic. But I really want everybody to realize what's in store for us. I am sorry if this post hurt your feelings.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
India- High on Senility
And now this moral policing. As if we do not have enough issues to worry about. UP Police who has always been infamous for corruption and its relations with criminals are going to bother teenagers to show some work, because they are incapable of doing something else.
We all saw the videos of Merrut Police misbehaving with young men and women few months back. Who is police or anybody else to tell people where to sit and how to sit, and how to behave? And these crazy Hindu sanskriti Morcha or whatever who are supposedly trying to avoid free meeting of men and women are doing irreversible damage to Indian Culture as well. These people have been tied with decade long thinking( I won't call century, because at times, Indian culture was more open than todays), are trying to tie everybody.
What culture was those Hindu organization people following by beating a single guy, stripping him in street and doing all the stupid things.
More we try to tie people in rules and regulations, more we put them at risk and harm Indian Culture. Kids are getting smarter faster than previous generation, teach them to be responsible, don't put them in shackles.
Other issue is insolent police. We all know how police behaves, and what kind of impression they are going to make on these teenagers. I have seen examples where police did behave in very very bad way to teenager, and the angry teenager tried to kill the policeman. As far as insolency is concerned, I will talk about that in more details in subsequent blogs. But please forget the moral policing, teach teenagers to be responsible. They are far more smart than you think.
Anurag
Supreme Court's Order to be followed or not
It's a big predicament for the protesting students. As most of us know that Supreme Court has asked Medical Practitioners to call off their strike as the reservation matter is now under consideration by supreme court. Now the student community is confused. Supreme Court has also directed Government to take no action against protesting students and ordered no termination of striking Doctors.
The students do respect Supreme Court and would like to call off their strike, but they do not believe Government and its treacherous ways, by which it can make a law and reverse Supreme Court's decision (we have proofs in history). The movement has been growing too fast and if the movement is called off now, it would be difficult for the students to revive such a big movement again if Government does what is expected (reverse SC decision) at a later date.
Its a catch 22 situation for students, as if they do not call off strike it would be considered contempt of court, which is again a serious issue in itself. I feel that medical students and doctors should call off their strike for the time being, but keep the movement alive. They can keep the movement alive symbolically. They should keep the discussion open in media, they should wear black bands while at work or in college. They can make anti reservation stickers and put them in thier cars. There can certainly be other ways to keep the movement active symbolically.
They can also give a deadline to the Government on some issues and tell that the movement will return with greater vigor if those issues are not resolved by the specific deadline. I know Government is stubborn, but we cannot be stubborn like them, especially after Supreme Court's intervention.
I think medicos and students should call off their strikes after proper analysis and proper gameplan.
Kudos to all the people responsible for this movement. You have shown the world how you can pressurize even a strong Government like India's with legitimate demands. You have also shown the courage and sensibility of Indian Youth. Putting up a non violent protest in these modern times is commendable.
Anurag
Category: General/random
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
भारत में बढ़ता पागलपन
हर शाख़ पे उल्लु बैठा है, अंजा़में गुलिस्तां क्या होगा..
अगर हम भारत की वर्तमान स्थिति पर नज़र डालें तो बिलकुल यही महसूस होगा। दिल्ली में सामाजिक
समता के इतने बड़े भक्त बैठे हैं कि वो इसके लिए सारी समझदारी छोड़कर, लाल कपड़े के पीछे पड़े साँड
की तरह भाग रहें हैं। और इस भागमभाग में अपने साथ पूरे समाज को ध्वस्त करते चले जा रहें हैं। अर्जुन
सिंह अपनी बुद्धिमानी का परिचय दे ही चुके हैं, और साथ देने के लिए मीरा कुमारी भी चलीं आईं।
भाजपा ने तो खैर अपना ढीलमढाल रवैया जाहिर कर ही दिया।
गुजरात कुछ दिन से शांत था, तो समय बिताने के लिए लोग आमिर ख़ान के पीछे पड़ गये। अलीगढ़ में छो
टी सी जगह पर मंदिर/मस्जिद बनाने के लिए झगड़ा किया, 24 बेगुनाह मारे गए। मुज्जफ्फरनगर में
तथाकथित संस्कृति के रक्षकों ने कुछ किशोरों की पिटाई कर भारतीय संस्कृति को बहुत रौशन किया।
तमिलनाडू और आंध्र प्रदेश ने इसाईयों को लुभाने की कोशिश में दा विंची कोड पर रोक लगा दी। मुंबई
में सरकार साल भर चिल्लाती रही की इस साल उसने बाढ़ से बचने के भरपूर प्रबंध किये हैं। एक बारि
श में इज्ज़त धुल गयी।
मूर्खता और बेशर्मी का मानो साम्राज्य फैला हुआ हो। इसके बाद हम ये दावा करने से नहीं चूकते कि
कुछ सालों में हम सबसे बड़ी शक्ति बन जाएंगे, और बहुत अमीर देश बन जाएंगे। फटी धोती पर रेशमी
अचकन नहीं सुहाती। ये 8% प्रगति का मुलम्मा इतनी जल्दी उतरेगा की धोती भी नहीं बचेगी।
हमें अपनी सोच बड़ी करनी पड़गी, तभी आगे बढ़ पाएंगे। समाज में एक दूसरे की इज्ज़त करनी सीखनी
पड़गी, तब किसी बाहर वाले के सामने आंखें उठा सकेंगे।
आमीन...
अनुराग
Monday, May 29, 2006
Supreme Court questioned the government on reservation issue
It's a great relief to see Supreme Court of India questioning the government on the validity of the reservation policy, as students moved to supreme court on this issue earlier.
Still, I don't think its the time right for the Students to stop their protests, as this chance will not repeat in the history. Protesting students have convinced pretty much everybody on their stand, and they need to pass the biggest hurdle of stuboorn government and vote politics to actually resolve the issue. Sure, the supreme court's questioning will help, but we cannot rely on that only as we have seen Government passing new laws to curtail supreme courts power and verdict.
BJP is also changing its stance on reservation. Although, this is again a vote bank gimmick, it will definitely put a pressure on government. Lets hope sanity will prevail and Indians will see some justice soon.
Anurag
Sunday, May 28, 2006
What's so wrong in what Aamir is saying??
BJP started protesting against Aamir, and created an issue in Gujarat. Please see the video and decide what wrong did he say?? Why doesn't Aamir have democratic rights? Please note the important point which Aamir conveys regarding the amount of insolency the protestors exhibited against Aamir. If you see the videos and pictures of protest against Aamir Khan and the way some leaders were speaking, you will realize, how intolerant and insolent "we" have become.
I support Aamir in his statement. Here is a link of another interview of Aamir on the same issue. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/im-not-saying-sorry-aamir-khan/11463-3.html
Its shameful that people including film industry in not coming in support of Aamir. Its a matter of democratic rights, and its imperative for right people to support him at this crucial time.
Anurag
Friday, May 26, 2006
Students Against Reservation planning to move to Apex Court
I think its really a good move. Personally, I think its unethical, unmindful, unsocial, and illegal for a government to make a policy based on 80 year old census data. Furthermore, its again wrong for government to continue with a fifty year old policy without proper analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the reservation policy. It is again very wrong for a government to implement reservation based on caste when they don't even collect caste based census data, as it may create rift in Indian Society.
If caste based census data can be volatile, won't cast based reservation be? Isn't it illogical? By implementing reservation policy, government is trying to fulfill its responsibility of uplifting the poor, which actually it is not. I strongly support Indian Students and would suggest all of them to continue their protest. I think they have been doing most civilized protest in the histiry of mankind, and fighting for a very noble cause. Kudos to these young minds. I wish them all success.
Anurag
category: General/Random
Lets celebrate mindlessness...
I strongly believe that's what is going through in India currently, whether you agree or not. Reservation is a big example for that. Now, a new controversy started with Aamir Khan, because he gave a statement in favor of displaced people regarding Narmada Dam. I don't care he gave wrong or right statement, all I care about is the way BJP registered its protest against Aamir. BJP started creating protest against him, burnt the posters of his latest movie. Is this a way to behave in a modern society?
BJP, which supposed to be a national party, and they protest in such a way. First of all its entirely foolish to protest against Aamir or his movie. Period. He is independent enough and living in a free country and can give statements wherever he want on whatever he wants. If you have to protest, look at the Doctors in Delhi, see how civilized people behave. This protesting by burning effigies, breaking government properties should be stopped and people doing that should be charged with criminal offense. We have seen Shiv Sena doing that lot of time in Mumbai, and if you see those videos in news channel, you will immediately realise that these parties are relying on ruffians.
I think, we in India immediately need some social sense classes and need to learn how to behave, and how to treat other people. I will talk more about that in next post.
Anurag
Category: General/Random
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
भस्मासुर बनते हम।
संदर्भ के लिए मैं सर्वप्रथम भस्मासुर की कहानी संक्षेप में बताता हूँ। भस्मासुर एक ऐसा राक्षस था जिसे वरदान था कि वो जिसके सिर पर हाथ रखेगा, वह भस्म हो जाएगा। भस्मासुर ने इस शक्ति का गलत प्रयोग शुरू किया और स्वयं शिव जी को भस्म करने चला। शिव जी ने विष्णु जी से सहायता माँगी। विष्णु जी ने एक सुन्दर स्त्री का रूप धारण किया, भस्मासुर को आकर्षित किया और नृत्य के लिए प्रेरित किया। नृत्य करते समय भस्मासुर विष्णु जी की ही तरह नृत्य करने लगा, और उचित मौका देखकर विष्णु जी ने अपने सिर पर हाथ रखा, जिसकी नकल शक्ति और काम के नशे में चूर भस्मासुर ने भी की। भस्मासुर अपने ही वरदान से भस्म हो गया।
यह कहानी यदि हम ध्यान दें तो वास्तव में हमारी अपनी ही है। बहुत सारे मुद्दे हैं जिन्हे हम घ्यान दें तो पाएंगे की हम धीरे-धीरे किन्तु बड़े निश्चय से मानव जाति के विनाश की ओर बढ़ रहे हैं। चाहे वह ग्लोबल वार्मिंग हो, पृथ्वी को हजारों बार नष्ट करने की ताकत वाले हथियार हों, बढ़ता अंतर्राष्ट्रीय तनाव हो, सामाजिक समस्याऐं हो, अथवा मानसिक असंतुष्टि हो। हम लोगों की तरफ से इन समस्याओं को बढ़ाने के प्रयास चालू हैं। इस चिट्ठे में फिलहाल मैं बी बी सी में छपी ग्लोबल वार्मिंग की खबर के बारे में बात करना चाहूँगा।
बी बी सी में छपी खबर के अनुसार अभी तक के ग्लोबल वार्मिंग के अनुमान लगभग 75% तक गलत हो सकते हैं। दूसरे शब्दों में कहें तो हम अपने विनाश की तरफ अपने अनुमानों से बहुत तेज़ आगे बढ़ रहें हैं। इतने सब पर भी हम सब भस्मासुर की तरह अपनी ताकत और शक्ति के नशे में चूर वस्तुस्थिति को स्वीकार करने के लिए नहीं तैयार हैं।
क्योटो संधि, जिसके अनुसार सभी राष्ट्रों को समयबद्ध तरीके से जहरीली गैसों का उत्सर्जन कम करना होगा, अभी तक लटकी पड़ी है। क्येंकि विश्व का सबसे शक्तिशाली राष्ट्र इस तथ्य को मानने को तैयार नहीं है। निजी तौर पर हम कुछ करना चाहते नहीं या जिम्मेदारी मानने से इनकार करते हैं। बिजली का ज़रूरत से ज्यादा प्रयोग, तेल का अनावश्यक जलाना, सभी संसाधनों की अनावश्यक बर्बादी हमारी आदत बन चुके हैं। समस्या ये है कि हमें पहले ही काफी देर हो चुकी है, और हम अभी तक जैसे किसी ईश्वरीय भविष्यवाणी का इंतज़ार कर रहें हैं।
हम लोंगों को कम से कम निजी तौर पर अपनी पृथ्वी को बचाने के िलए सतत् प्रयास करने चाहिए। और दूसरों को इस बारे में प्रेरित भी करना चाहिए। शुरूआत के लिए कम्प्यूटर टेबल से उठने से पहले कम से कम माॅनीटर बन्द कर दीजिएगा।
अनुराग
मेरा पुराना चिट्ठा ऊर्जा अपव्यय के संदर्भ में
And, its final - Indian Govt let us down again
Government has decided to go ahead with 27% quota for OBC. Congratulations to all of us and welcome to a new era of division based on caste, welcome to new inefficient India.
Irony is that the two top most positions in India are occupied by one of the most brilliant people.
God Bless India
Anurag
Category: General/Random
Monday, May 22, 2006
So, Decision on quota is final
A friend forwarded me this interview of HRD Minister Arjun Singh and Karan Thapar, and I am copying few excerpts of it here. You can read the whole interview at CNN-IBN. Please be very cool while reading the interview as you may feel extremely frustrated at times, and may break your computer monitor, and you will realize it while reading the interview. At this point of time, I wish Rang De Basanti to come out to real life.
Karan Thapar:
Most of the people would accept that steps are necessary to help the OBCs gain greater access to higher education. The real question is - Why do you believe that reservations is the best way of doing this?
Arjun Singh: I wouldn't like to say much more on this because these are decisions that are taken not by individuals alone. And in this case, the entire Parliament of this country - almost with rare anonymity - has decided to take this decision.
Karan Thapar: Do you personally also, as Minister of Human Resource Development , believe that reservations is the right and proper way to help the OBCs?
Arjun Singh: Certainly, that is one of the most important ways to do it.
Karan Thapar: The right way?
Arjun Singh: Also the right way.
Karan Thapar: Except for the fact that the NSSO, which is a government appointed body, has actually in its research in 1999 - which is the most latest research shown - that 23.5 per cent of all university seats are already with the OBCs. And that is just 8.5 per cent less than what the NSSO believes is the OBC share of the population. So, for a difference of 8 per cent, would reservations be the right way of making up the difference?
Arjun Singh: I wouldn't like to go behind all this because, as I said, Parliament has taken a view and it has taken a decision, I am a servant of Parliament and I will only implement.
There are other frustating parts of the interview too, which you can read in the link I gave above. At this point of time, the issue has seriously come up to the frustrating level, which I would call it "Rang De Basanti" level.
Anurag
Category: General/Random
Further developments with Reservation Row
It was interesting to find out two members of knowlegde commission resigned protesting the government policies on reservation. Here is the TOI link to the story and here is the rediff link to it. Meanwhile the panel of four ministers appointed to examine the situation supported the reservation policies. I am not sure why the panel was appointed at first place, when it consisted of government ministers whose reliability is already at stake.
Interstingly, few IIT students threatened to commit suicide over this row. I don't what to say about it. The only way I see the reservation row ending now is the fall of this government. Sadly, we don't have a credible opposition to even think about it...
Anurag
Category: General/Random
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Please don't get surprised.....
If you have found out that there is no precise headcount of OBC (Other Backword Classes) on the basis of which Mandal Commission recommendations i.e. reservations are being implemented. The recent news in TOI and Hindu confirms that. As I mentioned in my previous post, this policy is as short sighted as the tenure of political party in governance.
Anurag
Category: General/Random
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Reservation Row - Getting tired of it...
God please forgive them, they don't know what they are doing...
These words fit exactly on the Indian government right now. Well... it fits them many times. Anyways, reservation issue got red hot again. The government has refused to rethink on reservation. Reservation supporters also started getting on the streets to protest against anti reservationists.
At the end of it, if you think about it, you will question "Is everybody responsible for making policies stupid?" And the answer would be unfortunately "yes". If you ask pro or anti resrvation people whether the reservation (in educational institutions) should be on caste or economic status, everybody except Arjun Singh (HRD Minister, he is so ill that he do not have enough physical power to get up and study the whole policy by himself, forget discussion), and V.P. Singh (Worst PM in Indian History) will agree that it should be based on economic condition.
Why do the government want to emphasize that performance of an individual is a function of his caste not his/her economic status? Why do our own government want to divide us based on caste, and religion? Why our own government doesn't care about what we want rather than imposing what they want? Why don't they conduct a research/study where they can come up with a better solution and policy and provide resrvations and facilities based on economic conditions?
I am from "supposedly" upper caste (to me it doesn't mean anything except my last name). So, if I don't have money to earn education and apply for job and on the other hand, if a person who is OBC, SC, or ST and not good in studies, but from a rich family who can spend all his dad's money will get preference over me?? Isn't this stupid? As far as creamy layer clause in reservation (where by very rich OBC, should not get reservation) it is a clause full of loopholes, so lets not talk about that.
Lets join the protest and say "I am against a caste based reservation, and I want the government to present a case for reservation and/or extra facilities based on economic condition that can help lift the economically weaker sections of the society".
Anurag
Category: General/Random
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Chain Mails -- Why??
I have been really bothered by stupid chain mails and forwards. Sometimes I feel harassed by these messages too. So I tried to look at the probable causes of chain mails. If you think there are some other reasons, let me know and I will append it to the list.
1. The way chain mails are designed, any mail receiver tends to send the mail to lot of other people in their addressbook. Some people are so smart that they click on their complete addressbook, and send these chain mails to everybody. What happens is that in four-five hops, the amount of mail becomes more than a million and can easily get the server of a mail company down.
AOL gets hit by it most. Because most people using AOL are smart, and capable enough to know how to send these mails to most possible users. Other companies are also getting hit by it.
2. When you send these chain mails, you not only expose your email addresses, but the email addresses of thousands of other people. Spam companies recognizes these addresses and harvest them to send more spam.
Now, if you send the messages to multiple users, most servers categorize you as spam sender. So, it may happen that your genuine mail may not reach the right destination if you have been categorized as a spam sender.
Anurag
Friday, April 28, 2006
Political Views: None
When we see the profile of many people we find this familiar line "Political Views: None". People tend to shy away from political issues, views, political agenda and stuff. What I have been feeling for past few months is that our carelessness towards political issues is the primary reason behind all the problems we face and will continue to face.
Regarding my political stance; I have a liberal view on major issues with a little bit of conservative corner. I generally have an opinion regarding every issue that affects global harmony, global equality, and environment. I do not have a die hard strong opinion about any issue. Being Hindu believer, I can sustain and discuss long arguments for and against Hinduism. Being Indian, I can sustain long arguments for and against Indian policies, history and as such I am not going to get involved in fight if I don't agree with you, and I would respect that every person in the world has a right to have his/her own opinion about several issues and if don't then they should have an opinion about it.
When I say everybody should have an opinion about the things affecting them, I mean that if we do not have an opinion about things surrounding us, we give the power to other people (say politicians, religious leaders) to decide what is good and bad for us. The irony is that it is always the normal citizens who has to suffer the political decisions the most, and the rich and powerful people are not affected by it. Still it is the rich and powerful who decide everything for us. Its been same for ages. Earlier, kings used to do that, now politicians.
In many cases, its same with religion(s), ages long opinions and thoughts are put on us and those who follow them are atheist, and good, while others are bad. Anyways, I will discuss it some other time.
So lets see how politics affect us in our day to day life. I read an article in rediff and below is a good summary of these kind of political decisions.
"Whenever the Indian leadership has hurriedly entered into an agreement with another state, without involving its policy-making processes in the decision, it has proved to be a blunder. The nuclear deal is a historic blunder in the making. If it takes effect, it will prevent India from ever emerging as a full-fledged nuclear-weapons state, and thus rank as serious a blunder as Jawaharlal Nehru's decision to take the Kashmir issue to the UN and accept a ceasefire, the return of Haji Pir to Pakistan under the Tashkent Declaration, and the repeat surrender of battlefield gains at Simla in 1972 without securing a Kashmir settlement."
If you have read the details, the old Mandal commission report was implemented by V.P. Singh in an overnight decision without proper consultation with parliament. Arjun Singh suddenly got up from his bed and proposed to implement Mandal in remaining educational institutions and private sector. We, "especially who think we are elite educational class" do not bother to ask Government, what is the logic behind this policy? where are the statistics? where is the study on which the HRD minister even thought of implementing it?
It is our carelessness that Arjun Singh had courage to make a stupid announcement without backing it up, without discussing with parliament. We do not ask Government proper questions.
- We do not ask government, what they are doing with population issue?
- We do not ask, where they are in regard to promoting alternative energy issue?
- We do not ask government, what they are doing with restoring water quantity and quality for next 50 years?
- We do not ask!
- We do not ask!
- We do nothing!
India's poor response to water resources today will bring India to a point where India will have to get involved in a deal where we may have to buy water from other countries. It appears rubbish now, but it may become a reality in future, which means ten or less than ten years. These are not "just" speculations, these are probable realities. We do not ask our government what they are doing about it.
Its a duty of every citizen of every country to spend some time of the day in reading and understanding (that's most important, before expressing yourself) and commenting thoughtfully through newspaper article, comments, online discussions, blogs, peer discussions, writing letters to news channel about discussing this issues and lot more.
Real democracy will only come, if the individuals express themselves.
All in all, express yourself. We can bring a change.
Cheers
Anurag
Category: Political
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Anurag,
I genuinely appreciate your view point.
While I was in India, I tried organizing free “Disaster Management Courses” for primary school kids. To make the whole boring thing little interesting; we prepared animated Power Point presentations with colourful cartoons, caricatures, interactive quiz on disasters and give away prizes…..we managed to rope in a Multi National Bank to sponsor event.
It was an absolutely FREE course and we also planned to give away a small printed booklet on "What to do when disaster strikes", a free gift from sponsoring bank and a ‘certificate of attendance’ – just to make the kids feel special.
It was so depressing and frustrating that none of the schools allowed us to conduct these courses within their premises, on the reasons that we were not qualified enough to conduct such courses. Government run schools wanted us to take approval from “Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA)” – we could never meet him simply because ... its a long story!!!
"We have a lot of power and we can do lots of things. Just think about it." Sometimes it pains me so much!!
You wrote a beautiful post in a beautiful language, you are also gifted with another beautiful language "Hindi". Why don’t you write in Hindi, its not difficult at all.
I do agree with what Mr. Anurag Srivastava said. But I think we should take steps on individual levels and your suggestions can prove to be a starting point.
You are correct Anurag. Each one of able educated person will have to do his part and let our work do the talk.
I am trying similar things with my friends in my home-town in Rajasthan. Check out http://www.kalakari.com/kyari