YOUTH, SKILL, JOBS, INDIA

It’s been a long time since I wrote, much of this is because I was seeing if it would be appropriate to write or not given the setting in which I work. However I would love to tell stories, stories that keep me going, stories I wonder about, for their sheer truth rural India offers. Here are two of them   I go to a household in Haryana trying to ensure the villagers have toilets and hear a moving story. A lady in 40s tells me that she has 3 adolescent daughters and how it is a real problem for them to go out in the open. I specially recommend construction of a toilet asap. The next day as work is to be started my team finds that she was lying. She had a toilet built up a bit far from the house. I wonder why did she lie, if she had said she has issues in using them, I would still have considered it. The problem with the experience is that once you hear another such a story I would be suspicious, in case there is a real family that has 3 adolescent daughters it would be hard for me...

It’s been a long time since I wrote, much of this is because I was seeing if it would be appropriate to write or not given the setting in which I work. However I would love to tell stories, stories that keep me going, stories I wonder about, for their sheer truth rural India offers. Here are two of them   I go to a household in Haryana trying to ensure the villagers have toilets and hear a moving story. A lady in 40s tells me that she has 3 adolescent daughters and how it is a real problem for them to go out in the open. I specially recommend construction of a toilet asap. The next day as work is to be started my team finds that she was lying. She had a toilet built up a bit far from the house. I wonder why did she lie, if she had said she has issues in using them, I would still have considered it. The problem with the experience is that once you hear another such a story I would be suspicious, in case there is a real family that has 3 adolescent daughters it would be hard for me...

Well !! they came,left.. yet they never did so, they mentally enslaved us and continue to entrap us. We wake up from the coma, get small fits, look at one two issues now and then and slumber off again. The Indian public continues to suffer from colonial laws,which are not just irrelevant but in some ways against basic principles of human rights. 1. What was sedition in 1920s is still followed and looks like we are beginning to wake up after making someone suffer badly,a doctor,human rights activist  Binayak Sen's case is a example of such a folly,destroying a family and instead of appreciating his good work booking him for sedition.If just finding literature can make you a traitor then I guess every one of us would be traitors.I have books on Pakistan, U.S, Israel :) Mahatma Gandhi our father of the nation was also booked under the same law in famous Ahmedabad trial in 1922:He said this “Section 124 A under which I am happily charged is perhaps the prince among the pol...

A lot of my friends have asked me about the relevance of the United Nations and it being primarily in the hands of the U.S rather than working for global development.This post is meant for people who just see things from the outside and wonder why the U.N is like this, experts will find this post unscholarly and  mundane. 1. The U.N was made to further interest of the powerful nations: While the U.N does great deal of work for the world, it must not come as a surprise, it does so because more than anything else, this is what the most powerful nations want it to do. This is what Veto system means. 2. U.N was never meant to be championing developing nation's causes: It was only a platform where all players could come together and talk on issues. U.N primary goals and intentions must always be remembered and we should not confuse it as a neutral party. The good that it does comes from the leeway super powers provide it. 3.When 80% of U.N's budget come from the United states how...

A bill is a technical solution no doubt about it. My friends Akhilesh (here talks here on a facebook note) talks about technical and adaptive solutions in "silos", Can a technical solution not aid to speeding up of the adaptive process or a lack of it move the adaptive process backward?  This is a complimentary process rather than a mutually exclusive one. Hence positing that Lok pal bill is a technical solution for an adaptive problem and hence summarily dismissing it as a solution is a flawed argument. Another question raised is the articulation of what  corruption means to a common man, inability to clearly cannot articulate a fitting description does not in any way mean that common man does not understand the problem, , they may not similarly be in a position to say what is education to our satisfaction, but they do know its importance. Connecting the point raised in the paragraph before Does that mean we do not have a higher education bill just because they cannot pin...

 

Why did countless Indians not know, or may not have bothered to know Mr Hazare until he splashed as a positive tsunami in their lives.  Mr Ram Gopal Verma popped the question "Who is Anna Hazare ?" and over the last few days many of us have asked this question too. Some may have found their answers in action, some in friends, others in media and a good majority in online sources. Those who have not will get their answers in the history books of their children. If we pause a minute and reflect, this question is a bit unsettling and although it make look irrelevant now.  Is it the sheer focus on their work? Is it the utter lack of General Knowledge or Is it plan apathy to public life. The very same people who cheered the Indian team on their victory against Pakistan or talked of 26/11 killings passionately did not know about Anna Hazare. This is a story of how civil society’s champion are so unsung in India. NGOs are not the most talked about words on the dinner table, ...

Finally the government gave in to the demands of the people being championed by Indians all across the globe.  This is a welcome development and undoubtedly a victory. It is a big one  if we trust the government. This is also an indication of the pivotal role civil society play. Had it not been for people like Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal we would lose the moral voice of the common man. This struggle has united people beyond all boundaries, it has revealed the best of globalization, technology, principles and people's power. However it comes at a time when the movement could swell like wild fire and mean higher damage to the government and a grounds up upsurge on other associated issues. Its been years since such support was seen in the streets and it will not happen soon again. Take my word, we have very few issues that can bring all of us together with the same passion.The common man will celebrate today but will really feel happy about his efforts when he/...

This is an epic battle one that will not be easy, we are fighting the very people who are embroiled. Who would want to go to jail, it is not in their self interest. Being rational human beings they will go all out to protect their interests. But I am happy this cannot be quelled down, a lot of what we are demanding will not be done owing to processes. The government has still not understood the magnitude of the mass support here, they like all fallen governments in recent times seem to be missing the bus. The issue is not one of technicalities but of public anger and despair. I just wish we have some fruitful negotiations, with the anger swelling there is a doubt that it may turn violent and youth may be too charged up in passion. THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN. This is a peaceful protest and THE ONLY STRENGTH IS THE NUMBERS something which the government cannot handle. I believe we will have good results.I know they will be some tapering of the language for sure but it is good to have som...

Heard about Cheer leaders, we can cheer Anna's spirit , What provides an old man the ability to speak every alternate hour inspire of not having food for 4 days. He knows people are behind him, although he does not fear death, he knows the power of truth and has confidence on the youth of India But yes here we are more than Cheer leaders, with out us the government will let any one die. Anna himself has said it is not me who government fears but the public who will vote them out of power. Without us nothing will work, when we fast and make it public it is spreading of the message. Let people know, Let the government know ,it is not just a prayer for our satisfaction it is a pressure tool. If the government feels things cannot be controlled they will hear us.  There is just advice do not commit if you feel the bill does not serve the purpose. It is not only about emotions, it is about finding the best way to tackle corruption. There must have been a referendum and public debate ...

1. Has Anna Hazare been pushed? Corruption has been on Anna's agenda for long. He pressed for legislating an Act for Right to Information. The first campaign for RTI was organized at the Azad Maidan, Mumbai, in 1997. He went on fast-unto-death on August 9, 2003 at Azad Maidan, Mumbai. He decided that unless the Act is passed by the Government, he will not end his fast; rather he will sacrifice his life for peoples rights. The Government of Maharashtra felt that his resolution is firm and He would not step back from his decision of ‘do-or-die’. On the 12th day of his fast, the Government of Maharashtra got the Bill signed by the President of India and enacted the law of ‘Right to Information’ in Maharashtra.  2.Who will be Lok Ayuktas, will it not breed corruption itself? Eminent means people from civil society, retired judges basically people who are clean and demonstrated accountability? What does it mean "The Lokayukta should be a multi-member body consisting of a judic...

The war in Iraq has raised several issues; the most important is the legitimacy of the war itself and the implications for international law. International Law remains relevant and would continue to be so. Laws seem to be unequally applied; the weak tend to follow while the strong get away with it. However the very fact that the U.S tried hard to legitimize its unilateral action, rather unsuccessfully proves the importance of international law as a vehicle of powerful states to carry out their objectives.  Laws are routinely manipulated, the P-5 use for their benefit but gross violations do not go down well both at home and abroad. People know that their countries themselves were founded on the basis of law, it is rules that make them what they are, and a violation of rules does not befit them, it questions the core of their own identity. The irreparable damage to reputation is a very effective deterrent to the violation of International law. Iraq became a victim of “Fear” and ...

Can any youth in India have a shot at Indian politics just like he can succeed in any business? While there are laws and guidelines that encourage people to take up different professions what do we have things to promote political-social entrepreneurship? What hard and soft infrastructure does India have to produce politicians? Indian politics is caught in a vicious cycle. It is almost impossible for a common Indian to join politics. The cycle starts with money and ends with money. Here lies the plethora of corruption that we are currently witnessing. In order to fight elections you need at least few crores. Where do you get that money from? A common man does not have the capacity to raise this money hence this becomes the first hurdle. So who fights for elections, people who have lots of money have the best chance, this typically means someone who has earned it from other professions and has white hair does it and the youth gets his chance when he no longer young. He has a chance w...