Land Acquisition Act, Yamuna Expressway and Farmers.

        Yamuna Expressway is always projected as a project that will reduce the time to travel between Delhi and Agra and the area around it will be developed for industrial and model township. But last month, we heard about it for a wrong reason. Agitation, arson and killing were linked to it instead of development and industrialisation around the expressway.

                          Now the question arises, what is the root cause for such an agitation that disrupts normal life not only of the farmers of Uttar Pradesh but also of Delhites. Apart from that, Indian Parliament also saw disruption of its mansoon session many times.

       The bone of contention is the acquisition of land of the farmers for the proposed expressway and the model township to be developed by Jaypee Group by the UP Government. According to Land Acqusition Act, 1894, the goverment can acquire private land for public purposes. As defined in the act, Section 3(f)  "public purpose" means building educational institutions, town or rural planning, residential purposes to the poor or landless. Moreover, it also include that land can be acquired for any premises or building for locating a public office, but does not include acquisition of land for companies.

   There are two schools of thoughts which are prevelent among the farmers not only in that region but whole India as land acquisition is a India-wide phenomenon. According to one school, government is acquiring land for Big Businesses and not for overall development of that region. Moreover, some have reasoned that compensation is not good enough as it takes at least two generations to change your profession and lifestyle. Even government is not providing them any information or knowledge for investing that money. Ironically, only plus point is increase in the Excise revenue with the sale of Liquor and increase in the number of automobiles (Car and Motorcicles). Furthermore, resentment is brewing in the youngsters, they said they want to go with agriculture on their fertile land instead of being 4th class employ in the factory built on their land.

      Second school of thought thinks that compensation given is not fair. They should be provided fair compensation at par with what is given in Noida and Haryana. According to them, government only gave 4 lakh per Bigha whereas government will sell that land at exhorbitant rate.

         So, what will be the probable solution for this problem? Yesterday, TV channels like NDTV, ZEE News, IBN Live were showing debates on this issue and spokespersons of  political parties like Congress, BJP, RLD, Left were there showing genuine concern about farmers. Ajit Singh, Rita Bahuguna and Naqvi with member of Bhartiya Kisan Union were unanimously agreed that land acquisition is a necessity but there must be some checks-and-balances so that the affected one will be adequately benefitted. Moreover, acquisition must be for the public purpose and government must not act as "Dealer" for big companies. Even, Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007, which seeks to amend the 1894 Act must be passed as early as possible. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had assured the public in the epicentre of the farmer's unrest, Tupple (UP) that this bill will be introduced in the next session is a welcome step.       

   Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2007 which seeks to amend the 1894 Act and guarantee market price for acquired land. It also makes provision for social impact assesment studies of the development project and costs related to the resettlement of the displaced masses.

PM Manmohan Singh, Independence Day and Common Man

       On sunday, when PM Manmohan Singh ji unfurled our tricolour, lot was expected from him by the Common Man. But that resulted in a disappointment. His speech had everything from socio-economic problem to the high growth rate of development after the recession. But the stark reality is the increasing wedge between economic development and the Common Man.

    Yes, this was the landmark occassion that he was only the third Prime Minister to have reached the seventh year in office. More significantly, he is the first non-Nehru family Congress Prime Minister to have achieved this distinction. But the story he told about growth and develpment after recession is more a repetition than new one. The work done by the UPA-1 government is more comendable than this UPA-2 one.

  On the issue of Kashmir violence, he has presented only a political roadmap whereas the need of the hour is overall development of the region. Jammu and Kashmir need a plan which will create confidence in the people that Central Government has a genuine concern for the people of that region.

      Similarly, our North- Eastren region also need holistic development. Our PM gave more emphasis on "Discussion and Dialogue" but the reuirement is more. Apart from that,  region requires economic as well as  social development. The aspirations of the people must be fullfilled then only the youth may leave the path of violence.

He had told Naxalites to abjure violence, come for talks with the Government and join hands with the authority  to accelerate social and economic development. But to persuade them to leave violence is not easy. The Central as well as State Government must work in tandem for development of the neglected part of the country. Moreover, they work honestly to rise above their personal and political interests to meet this challenge.

Furthermore, the spiralling price graph, and even more so by the insensitivity of a government that suggests that inflation is a price to pay for growth make the life of the Common Man very difficult. Mr. PM has not suggest any measure taken in this direction.

Overall, I think our aspirations from Dr. Singh are very high and the apathy shown by the other parties in UPA-2 towards the policies led to the dismal show of him. Further, he did not deal adequately with burning issues like the situation in Kashmir, price rise and international relations.

Now, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi came from abroad and said that guilty must be punished after the CommonWealth Games, I think must boost the moral of the Common Man that in future she will look into other matter of importance.


 

On the eve of 63rd Independence Day Common Man thinks.

On the eve of 63rd Independence Day we are eagerly waiting for the unfurling of the flag at the Lal Kila. Getting up early to listen to the prime minister speak from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort  is like a ritual, one which I enjoy. But this year there is some anxiety in the masses , the prevelant atmosphere is not conducive for peace and harmony in the country. Therefore Common Man expects that Mr. Prime Minister will take stock of the vast socio-economic problems, particularly, of improving the lot of the common man consistent with his dignity and the unity of the natoin.

We are expecting that Mr. Manmohan Singh will handle the burning issue of Kashmiri Violenece. Today they do not want a mere political promise, according to them the movement was a retaliation to India's unfulfilled promise. They need a genuine concern towards the problem faced by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiri youth need a holistic development of the state, so that they can live dignified life in a free environment.

Moreover, the Naxalites movement is also a cause of concern, politicians for the petty gains are fueling the fire. Mr. Prime Minister must also look into genuine needs of the tribal population of the country. Again they need a holistic approach for solving their problem of development and exploitation of the natural resources.

   Forthermore, the rampant corruption that clogged the development of the whole India also need a look.
The controversies surrounding Common Wealth Games (CWG) tarnished the image of India in the world.
We are already at 84th position in Transparency International  published  annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2009. Definately, this will further lead India into wrong ladder direction on corruption Index. We need that guilty must be punished come what may.

Common Man also concerned for the rising prices of the essential commodities, and the Adulteration of food items.

In all, we do not need just a promising speech from our most learned PM Manmohan Singh. We need concrete solutions to the socio-economic problems faced by us. All the problems have some traits very much common . So, no problem can be solved in isolation. I hope we are not demanding too much from our Prime Minister.

Jai Hind

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

Yesterday, I was reading a book and found a prayer written by Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore. Truly the words are mesmerising and the dream of every Indian. I am reproducing the same

" Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic
walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary
desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
and action -
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."

Infact this is the dream of every one. No one in the world is free from any type of fear. Extremism, regionalism, war for religion, hatred, greed are bane of the life of an Individual.

I do not know when this will end but lets pray for this dream to come true.

Jai Hind.

Is Earth Hour enough against Climate Change.

When Earth Hour started in Sydney, Australia in 2007 nobody knew that in a year it had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating.

Even in March 2009, 100s of millions people took part in this hourly phenomenon. With 88 countries and 4000 cities officially switching off light, made it the largest global initiative against Climate Change.
Now, today on 27 March, 2010 we are sure the numbers will be more.

Why we need Earth Hour?

But the question arises why we need Earth Hour. Is this one hour enough for fight against Climate Change.
What I think is, why we do not make it a habit to switch of unnecessary lights. Moreover, we can use CFL bulbs instead of simple light bulbs. Even Indian Government is supporting this scheme.

Furthermore, we have to teach youngsters and children to make it a habit of switching off electricity when not needed. Even we can use staircases instead of lifts. Using staircase is benefit for our health also.

Why only Earth Hour for Electricity?

Water Crisis is another problem that world is facing today. Saving water must also be the responsibility, perhaps the duty of each one of us to contribute towards water management. Intelligent utilisation of water resources is the need of the hour.

If we use water indiscriminately, the day will come when a campaign like Earth Hour will be needed which motivate individuals not to take bath on that particular day. So, why not pro-actively start today and save water. Even it is our duty to teach children about saving water.

Cost Cutting Campaign in Industries.

When I was in IT Sector, I saw a phenomenon, Cost Cutting Campaign, during recession. In that campaign, unnecessary lights were switched off and circulars were issued to save paper and less use of printers. Even a bizarre scene that tissue papers (in Rest-Rooms) were issued on rationing basis.

Again the question is, do we need these types of campaign? It must be our duty to save electricity and do not waste our resources whether they are at home or at our work place.


So, the need of the hour is judicious use of not only our natural but man-made resources. Than only our fight against Climate Change will be successful.

Save Tree Campaign.

Save Tree Save Earth.

Today morning I got a message from my friend Ankit Mohan.
He wrote

"It will cost 38 Trillion Dollors to create Oxygen for 6 months for all Human Beings on Earth. But Trees do it for free, so save Trees and save Earth."

I donot know the claim that it will cost 38 Trillion Dollars to create Oxygen in Lab , but I know one thing that it is always beneficial to plant and save trees than creating oxygen in lab.

It must be our endevour to plant atleast one sapling in a year so that we as well as our future generation live happily.

Gaurav's Blog: Criminals in Indian Politics

Gaurav's Blog: Criminals in Indian Politics

Pay the Price for Political Vandalism, says Bombay High Court to Shiv Sena.

A division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice Mridula Bhatkar asked Sena Member, Sitaram Dalvi, to ask the party to pay for damaging the premises of Hotel Intercontinental [now Hotel Intercontinental The Lalit] in January 2009.

According to the Justice Ranjana Desai "It is not about money. It is about principle. Such activities should be stopped".

And further said "You can't go on damaging public property. Ultimately we have to pay the tax."

This judgement is remarkable as Political parties always uses political vandalism as a tool and due to lack of Political Will they have been getting away with vandalism. The state government had recently told the court that it did not wish to take action against senior party leaders, such as Thackeray, for political vandalism.

Citizen activists hope if the Sena is made to pay to the hotel, it will send a strong message to other parties.

Hartaal (Strike) and Lapataganj.

Yesterday, the topic of Lapataganj was Hartaal and its relevence.
In that episode a strike was sponsored by the opposition party. The members of the opposition party beat the people who were working. Daily wagers were the worst suferers, if they do not work what their family eat. The show had a happy ending and moral was that Hartaal is not a solution for the problems of common man.

But that ending is far from reality. We always lost lakhs of man hours, Losses in production and the freedom of movements. Moreover, Public properties and Nations economy suffers the most.

Now the question arises, are these strikes beneficial. Yes, to certain section of persons like politicians, trade union leaders etc. they are benfitted the most. They uses strikes as weapons to protect their hidden motive and interest and safeguard their leadership.

Instead of stopping the engine of growth why we are not opting the Japanese way of protesting. They increase their working hours and produce more. That led to the flooding of goods inthe market. There is no wastage of public money and no burning of public properties. It is high time now that we must take necessary steps to stop these activities. And all organs of Indian Democracy (Executive, Judiciary and Legislation) must take hard steps to check these strikes.

Dera Sacha Sauda , Baba Ram Rahim and the Mob.

On Saturday, 27 Feburary 2010, Followers of religious sect Dera Sacha Sauda went on a rampage on Saturday across Haryana and Punjab, torching buses, vandalising public property and unleashing panic among the public. In Haryana alone atleast 12 State Roadways buses were torched by the followers of this Sirsa-based sect.

I do not understand what these self proclaimed Gods teaches their disciples. I do not think that he taught them the path of violence and if so than we have to keep us away from these type of people. Why we are not able to understand that by vandalising public property we are torching our resources. Mr. God never travels in State Roadways buses, these are our buses and only the common man are using them. And, we have lost 12 buses.

And, I again stresses that we have to restrain ourselves from these types of activities.Moreover, We must have sense of belongingness of our public goods.

Sachin Tendulakar hit 200 Runs in One Day Internationals.

Sachin Tendulkar the Great, scores 200 Runs in ODI.

Today, Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman in the World to score 200 runs in ODI. He achieved this in 2nd ODI between India and South Africa played at Gwalior.
Moreover, this Double Century of Sachin Tendulkar was 46th Century of his career.
Now, we must prey that we will win ODI World Cup and Sachin Tendulkar must contribute for that.

Law against Vandalism of Public Property.

Vandalism of Public Property.

Why we are helpless against Vandalism of Public Property? It is a burning question now a days. I have discussions with many individuals who took part in some incidence of this type of protest in their life. What I found was that the mob was instigated for the vested interest of some.

Moreover, we lack the "Sense of Belongingness". We do not think that public property belongs to us and we are the rightfull owner of that. Once I asked a student (who was pelting stones on a government bus) for the necessity of pelting stones. He replied that everybody was doing therefore he joined it.That was the stark realty of many of the members of that mob. Furthermore, What I saw that the leader was a petty politician and he need a breakthrough to be recognised at the state level.

Also, in the recent time Political Vandalism emerges which has its admirers in all the parties. On the surface it look like a small problem but deep beneath the surface roots of vandalisms are so strong that even literate people are part of the mob. Actually what happen is that these politicians play with the emotions of the people. Moreover, they instigate public to vandalise the public property for the benefit of their own. And the Janta do not realise that they are wasting their own money only, as the taxes payed them are the main resources of the government for funding public utilities. This lack of Sense of Belongingness and Awareness is exploited for the benefits of some previlaged ones aka Politicians.

Against these act of Vandalism there is law also but, sadly it is
imposed. Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 is the said law enacted 26 yrs ago, but the problem is that there is lack of political will in applying it on the accused. According to this act, imprisonment upto 10 yrs is also possible (Section 4 of this act). But the lack of political will leads to lesser charges by applying IPC provisions in these cases. This led to general thinking that the Arsonists and the Mob will go scott free with milder punishments and therefore there are large number of these types of vandalisms of public property.

Now, the question arises who has to pay for that? According to view by the politicians, law should not be draconian and should not violate our Fundamental Rights. According to them restrain should be political instead of draconian. But some one has to take resposibility for the act done by mob. For this Maharashtrian present government promulgated an ordinance seeking to make rioters pay for damage to public and private property. This move came in the wake of large scale vandalism caused by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Our view is that, apart from the restrain followed by some of the parties, it is our duty that We cannot and must not be indulgent towards destruction of property as a method of airing grievances. And those who are resposible for their 'Heroic' act must pay for the hard work. It may not always be possible to trace the individuals responsible, but in such cases organizations who organise these so-called protests should be held accountable. Most importantly, the government must not succumb to the demands of the mob. Otherwise, it would be a signal that Vandalism or hooliganism pays.

Jai Hind.

Bomb Blast in German Bakery.

Bomb Blast in Pune (German Bakery).

A bomb blast rocked Pune where atleast 5 person killed and more than 20 injured at 7p.m. The famous German Bakery in KoreGaon Park of Pune was the target. This is a famous food joint near to Osho Ashram where Indians as well as large number of foreigners spend their time.

This is very sad that India always believe in Peace and Harmony, but the decisive forces wanted that peace will not prevail in India. Now, it is our duty to remain vigilant so that these things will not happen in future.

Why We have to see Lapataganj.

Relevance of watching Lapataganj.

I am a big fan of serial Lapataganj on SAB TV.It is based on the work of eminent Hindi satirist Sharad Joshi. In his work he highlighted the bitter truth of our society with a satirical punch.

Today, 4th Feb,2010, the show was on rampant corruption prevelent in Government Offices. Moreover, it showed the ways how corrupt people lure honest officers. Coincidently, Income Tax Department raided several places in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh and founded more than Rs. 2 Crore at the residence of Principal Secretary Arvind Joshi and his wife Teenu (both IAS officials). During the raid, Mr. Joshi was hiding his face in front of the camera. A thought came in my mind, if a person knows that he is doing a wrong task and if cought red-handed than it is not possible to show his face in public, so why he is doing that.
After seeing this serial and the news on Zee News I wanted to thank the producer and director ,of this serial, for spreading awareness against rampant corruption. Ofcourse I have regards for Mr. Sharad Joshi for writing such a satirical novel, that can teach some lessons to the masses.

Instead of watching Saas-Bahu serials, people must see these
types of serials, so that they know what is right for us and our Nation India.
Jai Hind.

Whose Mumbai is this?

Mumbai belongs to Indians.

A celebrated and oft-quoted passage we read is
"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measures, but very substantially. At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, india will awake to life and freedom." 
                                                        Jawahar Lal Nehru

He was talking about India and Indians not about any Delhiite, Mumbaite, Harayanvi , Marathi , Bengali etc. Irony is that, at that very time India  had as many as 568 Princely States and now after 63 years of Independence we are still not Indians but people having regional identities.

This system of regional identities is not an Innate event but engineered in our mind by the political opportunist cutting across all the party lines. They have a misconception that masses are still ignorant and they will fall into the trap of regionalism and other petty issues like casteism etc.

Two years ago I was working  in  Pune,  after spending weekend in Delhi I was returning to Pune . I boarded a flight from Delhi to Mumbai , after reaching Chatrapati Shivaji Terminal I took an auto, the driver was basically from Allahabad. I asked about the growing tension in Mumbai created by opportunist (read Politicians), he told me that he was as much against the opportunist of Hindi speaking States as against from Mumbai. Then he dropped me near a taxi as after that place autos could not ply till Dadar. Intrestingly, taxi driver was from Nashik, I asked the same question, again response was same. Moreover, he told me that there were more important issues for the people of Maharashtra and Mumbai than creating furore in the life of ordinary people for such a petty issue. I was astonished to found that he was well aware of the problems in his state than some of the literates of the same state. He told me that these opportunists did not cry for the suicide of the farmers in the Vidharba region, but worried about nothing.

India's 61st Republic Day Celebration.

We will celebrate our 61st Republic Day Celebration on 26 January, 2010.