Wednesday, December 3, 2008

India the soft target! Disclaimer: These are opinions expressed by me as an individual [Freedom of speech "Democracy"]

Time and time again we; the people of India have been hurt humiliated and killed by serial attacks by terrorists. The wounds are still fresh when we are hurt again and again relentlessly.
And every damn time all we do is say that we Indians have a very resilient spirit and we'll crawl back to our normal 9 to [don't know when it ends] slavery at our offices or professions.
Have we ever thought what repercussions these acts of terror cause to us as a nation; or the mental trauma; or the loss of invaluable lives; or the economical impact that will ricochet through all the businesses?
Some people might have the ability to gauge all these, but has anyone thought what as a citizen can u do to prevent these attacks in the future? All most of us do is think about the inability of the government to protect us. Or how ill equipped the NSG commandos or the police are today against the automatic weapons toted by terrorists.
Many people have expressed their heart felt anger by describing to how the alive terrorist has to be tortured[trust me I've heard some really gruesome explanations].
But taking a step back i thought how can i as a citizen [I think of myself as a responsible educated and democratic citizen].
I don't much like the term "Democracy" you know! So i took it as a challenge to myself as to how i can make a change being stuck in a system where the majority always prevails even if its made up of fools.
So i am starting my journey today[3/12/2008] to provide hard evidence for the secret of India being the Soft Target

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Indian polictics, "netas", "desi", poverty and the "aam aadmi"!


Elections round the corner again in many Indian states!! Its again going to take lots of accusations and showdowns on TV and papers full of mud slugging crap! Its again going to be the a tough times for business men to which candidate to align with for a mutual profitable alliance? These elections are a hell of a time for the liquor merchants and hoteliers for the Netas will use their services to get people on board in their party. Thousands of false promises made to make the public vote for them!

Now what can the "aam aadmi" a.k.a common man doing about it. Indian public has some of the best average IQ in the world and yet we are unable to elect a good government for at least one term? I mean we are letting the corrupt politicians take us for a ride and con us almost every time the nation goes for the polls!
Any logical person with a sane mind would be able judge which politician is good for his constituency! Lets admit that most of us including me will be least bothered about who the fuck comes to power and rules or violates our nation! Hell there are much more important matters at hand for us like :-
1)Whats happening in our career, business or profession?
2)How are our kids doing at school?
3)Will we be able to afford the next big thing in your life?
4)Have we saved enough for retirement and children's education?
5)Have we saved enough tax or do we need to more tax planning?
etc.......
I know we have so many things to think about that i cant list all of them here, we are so obsessed with our problems that we totally forget about the government.
Well think about it from a different perspective then you will find that all of the above are some or the other way directly linked to the Government we choose both at the center and also at the state level.
1) Jobs both government and corporate are directly dependent on the Government policies. The more the government is conjugal to the investors the more jobs are generated. The more initiatives the government takes in public services the more jobs are generated.
So if we choose a government that has a sensible growth plan we get more jobs and secure jobs.
2)Education can be termed as the means to a happy life in modern world.If a person is effectively educated he can survive and prosper. Again the government is the one which decides what our children learn. In my opinion we are unlucky that the Government has a strangle on what we study and how we do it. A person educated in an unrecognised organization today finds it difficult to secure a job, leave alone what a person chooses to educate himself. So the government is important in this one too.
3)The Indian middle class person or "aam aadmi" has become more affluent! His needs and aspirations are growing in leaps and bounds. The market is also warming up to this fact. But I find in many instances that people travelling abroad have a very good reason to rant about how the government treats the middle class badly. The standard of living of a middle class family abroad is much better than in India. Take for example the government's taxation policy, the "luxury tax" for instance applicable for a club membership or air travel. I mean this is ridiculous!
4)Retirement is a thing that a young individual starts worrying as soon as he is married and starts a family. I mean its a serious matter for us all. Given the existing rate of inflation growth who knows what will be the cost of living when we retire. Again the government policies effect retirement too.
5) Tax is another issue that boils the blood of every hardworking individual who makes money slogging and pays tax in buckets. Just look at the tax slabs and the structure. Ok you say that tax is important revenue to run the nation fine. Then just take your car and drive around 5kms and look at the state of the roads, drainage, electricity in general infrastructure. Ask yourself a question... "Am i paying such huge amount of tax for this poor infrastructure?" Compare it with the maintenance amount you pay for your apartment, it will be much less and they provide you such good service!!
Now I will be happy if the readers of this blog understand that a good government holds the key to all the worries we have.
Now that we have related our daily worries in some way to the government, lets try to find solution for this unsolved mystery.
The first solution many media suggests is that we file nominations for candidature and get into the muck with the corrupt politicians and fight it out.
Well that one good idea but its like asking a couch potato to do a marathon in the time the movie gets a commercial break. Its common that we Indians are not people who are ready to take a huge amount of risk to bring about change! An international study shows that the risk appetite of a an average Indian person is much lower than some of the developed countries. It doesn't mean we are cowards or anything its just that we are educated in such a way that we do not have an appetite for risk. Its been ingrained in our mindset by the "British Raj" system of education that we unfortunately follow till today.
Ok now its understood that we cant change our personalities overnight without some serious consequences! So what else can we do??
Now let me take you through a simple questionnaire
1)What does a Neta do during election time, whose houses and locales does he visit?
Yours!? Naaah its the poverty hit slums and labourer class areas he visits.
2)Which population does a Neta entertain and try to please before elections?
The middle class!? wrong again. He distributes moonshine a.k.a "Desi" and meat biriyani to the poor people and the labourer class. Puts up pandals with entertainment for these very people.
3)Who goes to vote on voting day?
The sincere hardworking you?! Impossible your boss does not give you a holiday, you are being projected for the next promotion and you are busy in the office. While the poor and labourer class votes in full force sometimes multiple number of times, might be even your voting right has been used up by them!!
4)At the end of the elections and government formation who suffers?
The labourer class? Yes but you are also with them here! You might console yourself saying "I never voted for this guy!" well you never exercised your right to vote for a better guy also!
So moral of the story is if we don't exercise the right to vote we will suffer along with the uneducated labour class people.
Whats the use of all the bachelor degrees and master degrees that we put up on our name plates in front of our houses when we are no better than an illiterate??
People make a difference..excercise your right to vote!!!

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Medical Health care for "Sicko"

"Be careful ride/drive carefully! If you meet with an accident in a rural place then you will be taken to Government Hospital!" This is the advise many of my well wishers and parents gave me when ever I embarked on a solo ride on India's pathetic roads on my puny 150cc bike.
I mean its quite natural for us as citizens of decmocratic India. Let me ask you a simple and honest question; when u pay heavy taxes laid on you by the government what kind of medical health care do you expect? Still have you spent a day without hearing a Government doctor's negligence or grave mistake??


I mean ok some people will not relate to it at all. "What can happen to us? We have health insurance and access to good private hospitals and responsible doctors." Come on i dont blame you for that; I even am not supposed to; its democracy right!
Well have you thought for one day what happens to the poor people who do not have access to private Medical/Health care and have to rely on Government run hospitals?
And a majority of Indian population is under poverty line; they usually suffer at the hands of these Government licensed killers at the government hospital!
Fine I pacified myself that ok we are a developing counrty and we'll progress and some day medical health care will improve.
Then something tore open the sheets of this pacivity!! It literally brought down my notion of high regards for the medical health services in US of A(Big brother to the world, saviour of the world who checks the nuclear armament of the world blah blah.....).
Yes if you also want the real deal watch the movie "Sicko" by Michael Moore.
I mean I can confidently say that the Health Insurance and Medical system in USA run the same racket as the Indian medical doctors. I mean hello big brother USA! wake up, first show the care for you own sick and old people then you can nanny the rest of the world!Later on in the movie its was so good of Michael Moore to even show parts of the world where the Government still cares for its Citizens.
There are some facts that really surprised me, pleasantly about the British and French and Cuban system of medical health care.
I mean these are three different countries with different political and national orientation. The Brits are highly democratic, French highly nationalist and Cuba is well Communist; yet they all follow a commom methodology for Health care:- Socialist
Well for common people like you and me Socialistic Health care means FREE AND QUALITY HEALTH CARE!Yes you read it right! Hell even the medicines are subcidised in all three countries shown in the documentary. You have to see the film to believe it!
Now compare this to the semi socialistic behaviour of our NAM oriented government. Well the biggest flaw lies in the fact that we are not aligned with neither of the world super powers ie Capitalists or Communists. Frankly no where! But our politicians tried to sail on both boats and introduced the state run medical services along with private practice and in the end we dont have anything! A totally FAILED system.
I was particularly impressed by a Brit gent who stated :-"Unless the poorest of the poorest citizen of a Country has the means to good health the country will not be able to attain the full potential of its citizens".
Well that really grabbed my attention.
Now this is the real deal. The truth is out there! Now how do we as citizens of Democratic Republic of India get access to our entitled and rightful medical health quality care service.......? Thats a question for us to find answers to. So think and its time to act