A capital loss!

दिल्ली में मेरे २० वर्षों के प्रवास के दौरान १५ वर्ष स्वर्गीय शीला दीक्षित दिल्ली की मुख्यमंत्री रहीं। किसी भी मुख्यमंत्री का यह अपने आप में एक कीर्तिमान है। परन्तु प्रगतिशील दिल्ली के लिए शीला जी का जो योगदान है वह इस रिकॉर्ड से कहीं महत्वपूर्ण और प्रशंसनीय है।

दिल्ली के दिल को साफ़ करने का श्रेय दिल्ली की सर्वाधिक कार्यकाल के लिए रहीं मुख्यमंत्री को ही जाता है।  सीएनजी को यथार्त रूप देने का सेहरा इनके सिर पर ही बंधेगा। राष्ट्रमंडल खेल के दौरान भी दीक्षित सरकार का योगदान सराहनीय रहा।

यह दीक्षित - कार्यकाल ही था जिसने दिल्ली को मेट्रो दिया; आज मुद्रिका की तरह दिल्ली की लाइफलाइन है। साथ में सड़कों और फ्ल्योवेर्स का ताना बाना बुन कर दिल्ली की सड़कों पर ट्रैफिक नियंत्रण महत्वपूर्ण प्रयास रहा। 

मोर्डर्न दिल्ली, नयी दिल्ली, विक्सित दिल्ली के नवीन वास्तुकार के रूप में संसार शीला दीक्षित को सदैव स्मरण रखेगा। उनके योगदान को स्वर्ण अक्षरों में लिखा जायेगा। भगवान उनकी दिवंगत आत्मा को शान्ति प्रदान करे। ॐ शांति!

Rules are meant to be broken!

Rules are meant to be broken!

 Before I write anything further first let me clear my stand. I stand by Anna Hazare' initiative for a corruption free nation. I respect him and his decision. However I have my reservations for supporting Jan Lokpal Bill. I know I am voicing it at a wrong time but then just my thought...welcome yours!

"The public movement against corruption initiated by Anna Hazare has become a rage among netizens. The Facebook page created by the group has registered over 40,000 followers in one day, while more than seven lakh people from across the country have pledged support to the cause through mobile phone registration. The response from youngsters, in particular, is enormous." -  From a FB Wall post of one of my friend.

Few question to all of us* - of these over 40, 000 followers on facebook and more than seven lakh people who have pledged support for Hazare and Lokpal Bill –

·          How many of them had heard of Anna Hazare or Lokpal Bill before now?

·          Even after registering their ‘voice’ for Anna I bet half of the janta would still not know about him or the bill!!!!

*(I am not talking about awareness or for that matter lack of it. The point I want to draw the attention towards is – our inclination, our thought – why and how  overnight we all got so aware about corruption that today we all stand by Anna!!! It is quite a possibility many of us have joined in sheer ‘neighbour’ pressure. – He / she has joined why don’t I? or “It’s the IN thing “ …”You know its high time we do something about corruption. I so respect Anna; I support him. Even so and so celebrity is with him. I would like you too to support him”!!! The sheep move in a direction led to.

In today’s world leaders / celebrity don’t keep the issues alive (or solve it) rather issues keep these celebrities alive around us! I know I may be wrong BUT definitely not completely wrong)

·          What is the guarantee that introduction of Jan Lokpal Bill would end corruption?

I know my friends would say – “Boss guarantee to kisi baat ki nahi hai; Its an initiative to curb corruption amongst politicians. I agree. My point is - we have existing laws -  on murder, rape…corruption but people amongst us still commit murder, rape and indulge into corrupt practices. The government made such an announcement while introducing electronic meters in auto that they are tampered proof but was it really?

Going by the past history I guarantee you that while Jan Lokpal Bill may be an attempt to curb corruption and that would not stop corrupt minds to play around! But yes this should not stop us from making an attempt towards it J

·          Who would ensure that the Lokpals are not corrupt?

I was reading through this website India Against Corruption the Salient features of Jan Lokpal Bill and could not stop smiling while reading through these lines

1.       But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.

2.       What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.

3.       What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

4.       It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption.  

My take on 1^st two pointers is just one sentence -  Its after all a human being who would elect another fellow human being; value judgments are inevitable. To the 3^rd pointer I would say – ‘Friends, why do we tend to forget that power corrupts’. And to the last pointers I would like to add – In the current democratic system roles and duties are already well defined; the question is who would ensure the duty is performed without any lack of diligence. Similarly who would ensure the duties of a Lokayukt  / Lokpal is being executed properly?

Jan Lokpal Bill talks about more transparency; every democratic system tends to follow a transparent system. It’s in the if’s and but’s of the rule book that the common man gets to see a opaque system.  Systems are already in place, we need to further strengthen them. Bringing out yet another system is not the answer for sure. It would only bring out one more way to go around it!!!

So what is the question now? Should we have Jan Lokpal Bill? Should we have support Anna in his effort? I would say the real question is how to curb corruption. And again I would like to refer to my fb wall post Rahul Rakesh / wall post where I did mention “I stand by Anna. But then what is corruption? Isn't it a state of mind? Aren't we corrupt as well? The fast unto death is dealing with macro; what about the corruption at the micro level?”

If we have the courage to stop being corrupt; I am convinced that no corrupt politician would enter into the doors of the parliament. Can we be our own Anna Hazare and take a pledge of not being corrupt? Can celebrities come forward and take a pledge they would support and indulge into corrupt practices.

If we simply follow the rules corruption would end! The moment we tend to go around the rule we are corrupt. What are we doing towards it?

Note: I wanted to written this post sometime back but today’s conversation with my friend over dinner prompted me not to delay it further.

PR - Are we doing it the correct way?

Today morning I happen to read a post from one of my journalist-friend's post. In the post he has mentioned that recently he has been asked by a PR / Marketing Professional to submit a proposal detailing when and where would he review the product!!!! He has even been provided with a deadline to submit the proposal!!!! 

In all possibility -  it may be someone from the marketing dept of the company or a fresher from an agency BUT it has 

• either been completely overlooked by the seniors of the dept or agency 
• OR, ......i better dont speak.

We have been talking at length on lack of suitable man power and nurturing talent.... but the question remains -   Are we doing it the correct way?....What is the correct way?

Any suggestions...

Is it a journey towards the end or the beginning?

Last Sunday I was in the company of my former Principal and his few college friends. One of his friend asked him about his views on smoking. I was expecting "Smoking is bad" as an answer in spite of the fact that he smokes. But his input that smoking is good came as surprise. What was more surprising was his indifferent tone.

He further explained that at least he finds smoking to be a great stress buster and thats the reason he smokes. Also he said..everything, every activity has an effect (both positive and negative) on us. So should we stop performing every activities??? And as a third argument that he gave in his favour was if Western theories are anything to go by, there will be a time in our lifetime that we would read the positive effects of Smoking!!!! Reason being the theories are self contradictory in nature and even if the theories are 99% correct no one is sure about which 1% information is incorrect :)

During the same course of discussion we also discussed about organic farming. What intrigued me was the question that Are We Moving Forward (towards the end) or Backward (towards the beginning)?

Towards the beginning of our mankind, we humans had necessarily just two ends to be met -  food and shelter...We started civilizing as a race and so increased our needs and requirement.Slowly we started  fullfilling luxury....A journey from good to better (to best). i.e from vegetarian to non-vegiterian...to drinking..smoking as a fashion, style statement to a habit; for growing vegetables naturally to using chemicals  and  fertlizers to enhance the quality of vegetable grown....now we are again back to same old methods with new names.  We are eventually into a complete circle, coming round to a place from where we have started!!!!

It leaves me wondering -  Is it a journey towards the end or the beginning?

(this post was written almost an year back...)

Women Reservation Bill

A PARTY TO BEAT ALL PARTIES: BJP’s Sushma Swaraj (L) and CPI(M)’s Brinda Karat—who represent the Right and Left extremities of the political spectrum—on Tuesday turned sisters-in-arms on the reservation bill – Times of India, March 10, 2010

The picture says it all. If getting the bill passed in the Upper House can do this, wonder what it is capable of doing when passed in the Lower House as well! Just wonder! This is what the proponents of the bill would like to advocate.

What is this Women Reservation Bill? The legislation proposed to reserve 33.3 percent seats for women at each level of legislative decision-making, starting with the Lok Sabha, down to state and local legislatures. The bill was first drafted by Deve Gowda led United Front government in 1996. In continuation of the existing provisions already mandating reservations for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes, one-third of such SC and ST candidates must be women. Since September 12, 1996, when the draft was first introduced in the Parliament, it has been 14 years of Vanvaas that the Bill is finally seeing light of the day. Though the ordeal is yet from over.

All these years, the Bill could not be passed essentially because of lack of political consensus. It has always triggered heated debates (even physical) inside and outside Parliament. So what has been the journey so far?

·         The path-breaking Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Deve Gowda government on Sept 12, 1996.

·         It was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Geeta Mukherjee, which presented its report to the Lok Sabha on December 9, 1996.

·         Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government re-introduced the bill in the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998.

·         The NDA government re-introduced the bill in the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999.

·         It moved the Bill again amid pandemonium in 2002 and Left parties and the Congress gave assurances to support the bill if taken up.

·         The Bill was introduced twice in Parliament in 2003

·         In 2004, the UPA government includes it in the Common Minimum Programme

·         In 2005, BJP announced complete support for the bill but it yields to the objections of Uma Bharati and several others within the party, who stress on quota within quota for women on caste basis.

·         In 2008, the government tabled the bill in the Rajya Sabha so that the legislation does not lapse.

·         The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice, and Personnel recommended passage of the Bill in Dec 2009.

·         The Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet on February 25, 2010 and placed before the Upper House on March 08, 2010

·         After initial hiccups the bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha on March 10, 2010

·         The government is planning to table it in the Lok Sabha when the budget session resumes on April 12.    

The table below has tried to encapsulate the major issues around the much debated and controversial bill.

Women Reservation Bill
For The Motion	Against The Motion
·         Essential for active political participation of women ·         Increased political participation of women will help them fight the abuse, discrimination, and inequality they suffer from, resulting in the empowerment of women as a whole ·         Supporters argue that provision of reservation for women is only for 15 years. ·         The idea of reservation is to create a level playing field so that women can raise their share in politics and society and then, look for equal status ·         33.3 percent seats in panchayat elections have already been reserved for women and the results are very encouraging. This is the largest mobilization of women in public life in the world.	·         The SP and RJD are opposed to the bill in its present form and want a quota within quota for women from backward classes. ·         Reservation would only help women of elitist groups gain political power, aggravating the plight of the poor and deprived sections ·         Fear that many of their male leaders would not get a chance to fight elections if 33.3 percent seats are reserved for women ·         If 33.3 per cent reservation for women is added to the already existing 22.5 percent for scheduled castes and tribes, more than 55 per cent of seats in Parliament would be reserved. This would not be fair to other sections of the population ·         Asking for reservation, women are perpetuating unequal status for themselves ·         If inadequacy of representation is the issue, why not reservation for Muslim women (there are only two in the present Lok Sabha)? ·         Most members feel it is better to create reservation of women in political parties than in Parliament. The provision of rotation of reserved states is also debated

There is yet another school of thought who is against the concept of reservation itself. The group if of the belief that reservations have done no good to the Indian democracy, if not bad and the latest in the kitty would be no different. Reservation in itself is a proof to the failure of the state and the political system!

Further, discrimination is not a new phenomenon to women folk. They face a thousand forms of it every day, every minute. Be it foeticide, infanticide, dowry, domestic, physical, sexual abuse and what not! The idea that more women in the legislature would change the picture is doubted for valid reasons. There are already adequate laws and rules to safe guard and promote gender equality. The current bill will do little to change the grassroots reality.

What is needed is an affirmative action rather than reservation is what the critics feel is the need of the hour. Alas! The same was voiced during the OBC reservation issue and even before that and no action was initiated but ‘reservation’.  Also, any self-respecting women would want to be ‘here’ because she deserves to be ‘here’ and not because of her gender.

Having said all that, all the pros and cons, the fact remains the bill has been passed in the Upper House and is due tabled in the Lower House next month. The journey of the bill has been quite uneven like the real issue of women empowerment and it would remain so even if its legislated again much alike to the state of ‘women of 21^st century’ who is still unsafe traveling alone on the capital roads! So only three words to all of us - All The Best! 

Its lonely here without you...

आज सुबह मैं अपने एक मित्र के ब्लॉग पढ़ रहा था..समय, हालात और व्यस्तता के बीच हमारी मित्रतता कहीं खो सी गयी है, परिचय बाकि है और हम दोनों मित्र दो अलग अलग पहचान लिए अपने अपने जीवन वृत्त में घूम रहे हैं.

परन्तु विषय यह नहीं की हम दोस्त क्यों / क्यों नहीं रहे; विषय है उसके एक परिस्थिति विशेष में हमारे मिलते अनुभवों का, जो महेज एक संयोग मात्र है; और कभी न कभी हम में से हर किसी ने ऐसा अनुभव किया होगा.

३१ दिसम्बर की रात, सारी दुनिया ख़ुशी और जशन के माहौल में डूबी हुई थी और इधर मैं एकांकीपन में सराबोर!!!यह दीगर है की उस वक़्त मेरे साथ मेरा एक दोस्त अपनी नव विवाहिता पत्नी के साथ नए साल का बेसब्री से इंतज़ार कर रहा था.पर इन इन्सानों की भीड़ में कभी कभी हम खुद को कितना अकेला महसूस करते हैं...शरीर से मैं उन दोनों के साथ अपने घर पर था पर मेरा मन पता नहीं जीवन के किस खोखले वीराने में क्या ढूंढ रहा था.

यूं तो मैं लोगों का धनि हूँ पर कमबख्त गाहे बगाहे जिंदगी मुझे मेरे अकेलेपन का एहसास करा ही देती है....

मुझे मेरा ये अकेलापन बेहद प्रिय है. बहाने ढूँढता हूँ मैं अकेला रहने को....ये मौका होता है आपने आप से जुड़ने का...समझने का...पहचानने का....पर सावधान भी रहना पड़ता है वरना अकेलेपन का सूनापन बहुत जल्द ही जीवन में प्रवेश कर जाता है. उस वक़्त अंग्रेजी के ये बोल अनायास ही निकल पड़ते हैं - I am so lonely, I am so lonely.....

So much so about Celeb-privacy

Today I was watching We The People show on NDTV 24x7. Private Life in PRIVATE LIVES, PUBLIC GAZE: Are the private lives of public figures legitimate media stories?


The distinguished panel and the gathering has their own views on the same. My take on the topic - 

• Once I become a public figure how can I even think of remaining private? What I do, think, advocate...eat,drink, everything is under public's eye. Having said that then don't I have my right to privacy? Yes, I do have BUT its a limited edition privacy and its boundaries are monitored and re-drawn continuously by both of us (me - the celeb and you - the public / media).
• I may be a Pole Star in my profession but that does not mean I am perfect...I am also fallible. Woods is a great golfer whom the world will find hard to replace after he is gone but then it is his choice to go sleeping around with women. I love sex; and if my partners are ok with it how and why should it matter to you until I am not sleeping around with either your wife or sister or...
• I agree to the thought that we are increasingly becoming more voyeuristic. e.g.Mr. X is married and he is having affairs with eight women at a same /different time just under his wife's nose. How does it matter to me, to you, to any one else? That is his choice, his way of living, his decision.Its between Mr. & Mrs X  and the other eight women to decide if the action is OK or not OK. Still if I know Mr. X then in more than 90% of cases people like me would definitely enjoy in listening, viewing, discussing about the 'juicy' or lack of it life of Mr. X. We as a common people are by nature like that. As Mr. X is a common man so his story is limited in small circle of people who know him while Woods is a public figure and hence a larger circle of people is interested in knowing about the details. Thats it.
• We are interested in our celeb lives because A) we always wish to be like them B) if they commit anything wrong, we connect to them as one of us the common, fallible man!!!
• Yes, its all together a different issue that why we are voyeuristic-  may be is basic human nature that we like to peep into others life or something other but the fact remains we love to watch others' lives!!! 

Now coming back to main question  -  Does the private lives of public figures make legitimate media stories?

The answer to me, unfortunately, is YES. 

Media is the fourth pillar of democracy and its a responsible medium because it has the  capacity to build, influence, mold opinions. Its saddening to see the 'responsible' media is turning to 'entertaining' media. To quote one of the panelist from the show - The mainstream media called us yellow journalism but today they are all in RED. So true.

When journalists say that "we show what people want to see" is like saying we pamper our children by fulfilling all their wishes whatever right or wrong. As a parent we do give things that our child seeks or demand for but as responsible parents we at times do say NO. 

It has to be a collective decision of all the media houses to be 'RESPONSIBLE' and decide what of our (viewers) demands are justifiable and what are not and try molding our demands rather than falling prey to it. Exceptions may and will be there.

Woods affairs, as an example, is a news and should be reported in the media as he is a public figure but as a news and not as a story. So I may have said yes to the question but the correct answer should be NO. Its all about the question of what you show and what you should show...and that decides your legitimacy.