One way to improve India’s judicial system

Janhit Manch is a NGO that is doing this one litigation at a time with PILs (Public Interest Litigation). Would recommend that you join this organization 

http://www.janhitmanch.org/index.htm

Another example of bad governanace. Wake up India!

An independent research group,’Toxic Links’ has found that 65 per cent toys in the Indian market, both branded and unbranded, Chinese and Indian, are contaminated with lead. The toxic heavy metal can cause low IQ, retarded mental growth, anaemia and even kidneyfailure in children.

The study found branded dolls and even teethers that 3 month old babies chew on contain toxic levels of lead. 

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Why NRIs return to India?

Mitra Kalita ponders this question in her Mint column – Why do we NRIs return to India?

Everywhere I went, Indians asked me, “Why did you come back?”

For almost two years now, I’ve pondered and offered various explanations in this space, including the need to follow opportunity eastward, to the country that birthed my parents but never seemed big enough for their ambitions.

In the process, I’ve delved into not just the two Indias, but the countless Indias that perplexed me, yet ultimately define me: The young cousins who work as engineers and managers in Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai; the in-laws in gated communities of Gurgaon and Noida; a large close-knit patchwork across Guwahati; and those more removed relatives in the village. For the last few weeks, I felt compelled to be among the latter in Assam, distanced from the first-class and five-stars that had unintentionally been the backdrop to so much of our India stay in New Delhi. It was hard for me to explain to anyone just why we were going and why for so long. Sure, we planned to volunteer, to attend a few family weddings, but just what was it we were after?

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Police – Is this response fair?

I find it apalling that the Indian Police, instead of doing their jobs properly, resort to blanket bans. For instance, its difficult to police the night of 31st December, so let us ban partying on the beaches of Goa. Or in Hyderabad (and in other cities), we cannot have enough police on the streets to do check and arrest drunk drivers, so let us impose a ban on bars after 12 in the night. And in this instance, instead of doing the due diligence to figure out what led to this poor guy’s shooting, the Police Commissioner makes this statement.

Drag racing though illegal in the city is a big hit among the youth. After Mukarram’s incident, the Police Commissioner wants youngsters in the city to keep off from drag racing.

“Please don’t do adventures in Bangalore city. Speed-racing, drag-racing is dangerous not only for others and others’ vehicles, but also for persons indulging in it,” said Shankar Bidari, Police Commissioner.

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Kids will be kids no matter what. Any normal teenager wants to break rules; that is in their genetic make up. It does not mean he needs to be shot dead.

Site for reviews of Indian schools

For many Non-Resident Indians planning a return to India, schools for kids is one of the biggest areas to consider, research and filter to finally pick one. Here’s a site started by Chitra Aiyer along with her friend that purpots to fulfill this need.

Zeeksha.com

Does India need better anti-terrorism or better governance?

Nitin Pai, in his article, makes it clear – its the governance stupid. You cannot expect better anti-terrorism efforts from a government that has pathetic governance history. The public needs to take active interest and demand accountability from the government to improve governance. Only then can we expect better anti-terrorism efforts from the government.

After the last bullet was fired in Mumbai, bringing one nightmare to an end, a section of  the angry population took to the streets to protest against a political leadership that had wholly mismanaged internal security. But a government that could not protect citizens from monsoon rains—a relatively predictable phenomenon—can hardly be expected to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks. Unless Indian citizens channel their anger and outrage into improving the overall quality of governance, and demanding more from their political representatives and holding them accountable for quotidian public services, it is almost certain that the state will be increasingly less effective in providing basic security. For the fundamental problem is that India’s governance capability has so fallen short of its economic, geopolitical and internal security circumstances that the impact of even minor events, leave alone massive terrorist attacks, will be increasingly destabilising. 

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Is this is the Indian culture we are so proud of?

What good are the inumerable Incredible India ads in all the other countries when we cannot prevent such lewd behavior on the part of our compatriots. Since ‘word of mouth’ is the best and worst kind of advertising, we cannot expect to increase the # of tourists with this kind of treatment to them? Is this our culture that we seem to be so proud of?

“The incident took place during the annual Rath Yatra last Friday when our Japanese group was trying to pass through a crowded lane for a better view of chariots and deities. Suddenly about 30 people blocked our way and surrounded us. They mobbed us from all sides, pushing and nudging us. We felt suffocated. There were policemen, but nobody helped us,” said Junko Kabaya showing the injury marks on her body. 

“The rowdies tore my shirt. I have scratches on my chest, hands and ankles,” Junko added. The miscreants also targeted men and snatched their valuables. 

“They took away my digital camera and mobile phone. They also snatched a camera from one of the members of our group,” said Naoki Jino, a tourist. 

Another Japanese women tourist said, “It was our first visit. We came to Puri by road as rail services were hit due to floods. We wanted to watch the Rath Yatra.” Her friends were equally dejected. 

“We will think twice before attending any Indian festival in future,” one of them said. 

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Dumb statement from our FM?

If this is not dumb, I don’t know what is?

After the Saudi official left India, our FM makes the following statement

Mukherjee told television reporters after the Saudi foreign minister left that India would strike back if there were another terrorist attack. So for now there is no danger of war in the region.

Till now Mukherjee had insisted that all options were open to India, through prime minister Manmohan Singh sang a different tune.

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What is the FM saying. He is challenging the terrorists to attack India again. It’s not like India is well prepared to handle another attack. It’s just a matter of time for the next one. And then what? Its time for war? He has painted himself and India into a corner and is just being short-sighted here. When will our ministers learn?…God!

Citizen’s suggestions to fight terror

The top 10 suggestions that were selected from thousands of suggestions that poured in from citizens across the world. These were presented to the Home minister today by CNN IBN. (Chidambaram seems to bring a sense of calmness and control to his position and that’s who we need in the Home ministry today). Many of these suggestions are not easy to implement, but if we as a country need to fight the menace of terror better than how we have in the past, then these are not optional but mandatory! Here are the top 10 –

1. Better Crisis Management & Speedy Emergency Response
2. Widespread Survival Training Programmes for Citizens
3. Corporate Help to Overcome Anti-terror Resource Crunch
4. Uniform Electronic Identity Cards for all Citizens
5. Extensive Use of Technology to Fight Terror
6. Trained Citizens’ Vigilante Groups in Major Cities
7. Citizen-led Observation Posts for Coastal Areas
8. Fixing Accountability for Previous Lapses
9. Urgent Modernisation and Reform of Police
10. War Book for Emergency Situations

Also see the videos under this link for these and other ideas

Aamir, the thinker, at his best

In this video, Aamir raises some great points about India and the future:

• The need for a youth party which can deliver leaders who are idealistic, non-corrupt and really show some leadership. I wish Aamir takes a more active leadership to make this happen
• He correctly advises not to trust any politician who tries to highlight your religion, language, caste or creed. They are not unitors but divisors of the country
• He highlights the fact that Pakistan cannot change itself if the leaders cannot even admit that they have a Terrorism problem. There in fact lies the biggest problem with that country. If they cannot identify a problem, then they very well cannot fix it. 

His interiew with IBN Live is here. I didn’t know who the interviewer was. She was excellent!!!