This is INDIA

Two religions, one family, and a court approval

Fourteen-year-old Akbar’s appeal to the judge to let him remain with his Hindu guardian instead of transferring him to his Muslim mother has shot Aiku Lal Sandil to national headlines. However, for the tea vendor from Baradari, Lucknow, taking in Akbar wasn’t something he thought twice about. Having been raised by a Muslim man himself, Sandil couldn’t just look away when he found the six-year-old lost boy in a Lucknow park eight years ago. 

“I am a Hindu brought up by a kind Muslim man. When I found Akbar, it was like God telling me that it is time to return the love and care I got from His people. I was never forced to change my religion and, having got that education from my guardian, it was my duty to take care of the child and bring him up as per his own religion,” Sandil says.

The bond the two share was acknowledged by the Allahabad High Court in January 2008 when it turned down Akbar’s biological mother Shahnaz Begum’s habeas corpus petition. Shahnaz had argued that since Akbar was a Muslim, if Sandil raised him, it would “create dichotomy and disharmony in the social sphere and in their relationship”.

Dismissing her petition, after Akbar said he wanted to live with Sandil rather than his parents, Justice Barkat Ali Zaidi said India is a secular country where the consideration of caste and creed should not be allowed to prevail. “...If there can be inter-caste marriages... there can also be an inter-caste ‘father and son’ relationship and that need not raise eyebrows,” the judge said.

Shahnaz has now moved the Supreme Court, and last week it asked her to file an affidavit on her monthly income, the property she owns and the school where her other two children study.

What the high court found strange was that Shahnaz approached it in 2007, four years after Akbar went missing, and that she had not even filed an FIR in the intervening period.

Akbar’s parents first stepped forward to claim their son after they saw Sandil on TV, recounting his story to mediapersons at a political party’s office in Qaiserbagh where he briefly worked. “They came to me... I did not know them. Later on, the district administration decided that since they had not lodged any FIR, Akbar would live with me,” says Sandil. Later, the parents moved the high court.

A six-year-old at the time he got lost, Akbar had gone to a liquor shop with his father in Allahabad, where they lived. While the father was busy buying liquor, he strayed away and somehow landed up in Lucknow.

It was Sandil’s neighbour Kushmavati Devi who first noticed Akbar on a cold winter evening in 2003, playing with her children in a park next to Baradari. “As the children returned home, he started crying. He said his name was Akbar and that his father had gone to bring food and also that he lived in Pan Dariba. Sandil was also here and I handed over Akbar to him,” remembers Kushmavati.

With five children of her own, Kushmavati has been a foster parent to the boy. It’s at her house that he drops in for most meals.

Sandil says when he found Akbar, he had liver problems, weak limbs and an infected foot which made it difficult for him to walk. “I took him to doctors; I also massaged his limbs with medicated ointments. Once he broke his hand and I carried him as far as Etaunja to get treatment,” say Kushmavati.

Sandil recounts how he himself was brought up by Chaudhary Mujtaba Hussain, who was a member of a governing body that looked after the well-known Baradari moument. “I have seen Aiku living with my father ever since I was a child,” says Chaudhary Hasan Imam, Hussain’s son.

Hussain taught Sandil how to read and write English, Hindi and Urdu, though he never went to school. Despite his meagre income, Sandil has ensure that doesn’t happen to Akbar. “Initially, Akbar was enrolled in Prathamic Vidhyalaya, Qaiser Bagh, Refugee Camp, and two years later, he was enrolled in Queens Inter College. Recently, I shifted him to Mumtaz Inter College, Aminabad, where the classes are more regular,” says Sandil. He also pays Rs 100 a month for a daily, one-hour tuition in a nearby area.

“My income is not much but I am doing all I can to educate Akbar. I hardly save Rs 500 per month,” says Sandil.

Every Friday, Sandil also ensures, Akbar goes to the masjid to offer namaaz. “Abhi namaaz yaad to nahin hai par main jumme ke jumme masjid jata zaroor hoon (Though I do not remember the prayers as of now, I definitely go to the masjid every Friday),” says Akbar.

If the Supreme Court directs that Akbar be given to his parents, Sandil says, he will abide. “But if it is against the will of Akbar, I will not leave the child crying with his mother.” 

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/aiku-&-akbar-two-religions-one-family-and-a-court-approval/831716/0

Proud to be an Indian.. Really ?

15th Aug 2011, 64th Independence Day of our country and as is the custom; people are sporting the tricolor in every street and corner in every possible way. Social networking sites are abuzz with comments like "Phir bhi dil hai hindustani", "India is the greatest country of the world", "East or west India is the best", "Proud to be an Indian" so on and so forth… All of which is very heart touching of course. However what I want to know is, what ARE we proud of??!!

The corruption? The population? Illiteracy? Broken Infrastructure?? Or The inflation?

We keep saying that India is the greatest country in the world. Can anyone tell me, in what category? In our country for every right thing, we have a million things that are wrong and still we say we are proud of our country. Being optimistic is good; turning your back on reality is foolish. We have set up an image of our country in our minds that does not match with the reality at all. Let me tell you about the reality of our great country.

Democratic India

A democratic country where everyone has an EQUAL status except Hindus, Muslims, SC, ST, OBC, and Hindi speaking community, Marathi speaking community, Tamil speaking community, the elite, the poverty ridden, a girl child, and a boy child. Constitution gives us equal rights and states very clearly that any kind of discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, gender or any such thing is punishable under law. In parallel we have reservation on the basis of caste, creed and gender under the same constitution.

Secular India

Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai sab hain bhai bhai. "Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are all brothers". This has to be the biggest lie ever told. We all know it and still we pretend that everything is all right. You don't agree with me? Well ask yourself if any of your relatives opted for an inter cast marriage, what will be your stand? Anyways I will not write anything more on religion for two reasons. One, Religion is a very sensitive topic and two, as I am an atheist my views on the topic will be very biased. One thing that I would like to mention here is that our country will become a secular country in the true sense of the word the day when inter Caste marriages are not a taboo any more.

Politics – the gutter of India

Politics by common consent is considered the gutter of India. The amount of money laundered in the various scams that have surfaced recently is thousand times more that what the British took from us. People like Kalmadi, A Raja who we all know are the idols of corruption are still roaming free. The people who were supposed to take care of our country are the one’s who are ruining it and we are the spectators. Of the two big parties Congress and BJP, who can run the central government? Congress is functionally disabled and BJP is morally disabled and as far as a third option is concerned, we don’t have one.

Developing India

Stats will show that India has progressed a lot in the last 64 years. Standard of living has increased many folds. 64 years back we didn't have roads, today we have roads connecting all major cities [with potholes of course]. Back then we did not have proper living conditions; today we have air conditioned offices, buildings and hotels right beside the biggest slums in the world!!!! We are progressing at a steady rate of 8%. Yes we are crawling ahead like a snail when we could have flown like an eagle. Lets take the e.g. of Mumbai, the economic capital of India. In the ECONOMIC CAPITAL of India 80% of population lives in slums. [Source: Times of India]. Every monsoon Mumbai turns into a gutter which we brave somehow and then talk about the Unbeatable Spirit of Mumbai. Every now and again Mumbai is rapped with terrorist attacks and the security forces unable to do anything to stop them again give us the spirit of Mumbai jazz. We make illegal skyscrapers using black money on the land reserved for the families of war victims and then we even have the indecency to name it “Aadarsh” (Moral)!!!!

Young India

Whenever we start counting the problems of our country, the commonly given solution is "The youth of India". Youth of India has the capability to solve these problems. Their ideals will save the day. I agree that youth of India have great ideals. But what happens when the Idealistic youth is afraid to speak in front of his parents who are Anti-Hindus or Anti-Muslims?

The idealist who is educated but unemployed or doing a job that he doesn't like. The idealist who can not get admission in his chosen stream because of reservation. The idealist who works under a corrupt employer and has to support his family. The idealist who thinks he is a proud Maharashtrian and every outsider is a lesser being. The idealist who is a “bhaiya” and thinks it’s his right to do every wrong that he can think of. The idealist who is frustrated because he can’t get a smoke. The idealist who can’t walk straight cause he is drunk.

Will this Idealist be able to speak for an entire nation?

Youth has ideals but youth is not independent to act on those ideals. Ideals without independence are worth for nothing. Our idealist youth is bound by their families and their so called values, their frustration, Alcohol, Smoke, illogical ideologies, Problems that they themselves do not know how to tackle.

Education System in India

The most important tool to shape the future of our country. India is the proud owner of the 2nd largest work force in the world [source: Times of India]. Every year thousands of engineers, doctors, pharmacists, Accountants pass out from various institutes across the country, increasing that workforce. So shouldn't this mean we are doing well in the field of education? Well think again. Nowadays, education is the most happening business in India. The increasing commercialization of education has shifted the focus from a student based organization to a money making operation.

As if this was not enough we have added a whole new dimension to the problem by introducing the concept of reservation. We have a total of 47 % reservation for SC, ST and OBC in all government colleges. Because of reservation almost 50 percent of the students don’t have to prove their merit to get admission for a particular stream, which in turn forces many eligible candidates to settle for lesser degrees. To top it all this is being presented as the only reasonable path to establish social equality. Reservation is nothing but a ploy to hide the gross incompetence of the administration in providing primary education to each and every child and a very successful propaganda to garner votes from SC, ST and OBC.

To understand the problem we can look at the cut off percentages of IIT-JEE for admissions in the 16(including the 9 new ones) Indian Institute of Technology, the most prestigious institutes for technical education in our country. Since the introduction of reservation the cutoff marks for SC, ST and OBC students has never been in double digits and the same for general category students is usually around 60 to 70 marks in IIT-JEE. [Source: Times of India].

We, the People – Problem of India

We are the people who live by a very strict code. And what is that strict code... "Be Practical!", "Who doesn't compromise these days", "Nobody can get more than what is written in his so called kismat". We are the most practical people in the world. We break traffic rules, we bribe our way out, we plant the seeds of corruption and then WE complain about it!!!!! If we don’t get something that we want, we don't fight, we compromise. Why? Because that is what we are taught all our lives. Any body who tries to preach any sense is forced to shut up by the Practicality of the situation. “Aise thode hi hota hai”! (Things don’t work like this!).

If someone told us that government has put a fine on spitting in any public place, we will laugh and spit in the first public place we go to and when somebody takes a stand against any problem we are the first ones to say “Nothing is going to change so what’s the point in ruffling the feathers”.

We have become so acclimatized to our current socio-economic environment, that we have stopped distinguishing things as RIGHT & WRONG and limited our choices to WRONG & NOT SO WRONG.

I can write a lot more on this topic but I think this should be enough to give a picture of the reality of our country. I am not saying that everything about our country is bad but many things are, which we conveniently ignore. Problems never solve themselves; Problems stay until we take notice of them and do something about them, So stop saying “Proud to be an Indian” and start doing things that will make our country proud of us.

Note: All facts and figures used in the article are taken either from the Times of India website or the news paper.

Thoughts of Legend Bhagat Singh

Below thoughts are taken from "Words of Freedom - Ideas of a Nation" chapter Manifesto of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha 1926.


The whole history of human progress is written with the blood of young men and young women. And because reforms are ever made by the vigour, courage, self-sacrifice and emotional conviction of the young men who do not know enough to be afraid and who feel much more than they think. It were they, the young only, who fought. And everywhere the young can fight without hope, without fear and without hesitation. 


While we Indians, what are we doing? A branch of peepal tree is cut and religious feelings of the Hindus are injured. A corner of a paper idol, tazia, of the idol-breaker Mohammedans is broken, and 'Allah' gets enraged, who cannot be satisfied with anything less than the blood of the infidel Hindus. Man ought to be attached more inportance than the animals and yet, here in India, they break each other's heads in the name of 'sacred animals'....


There are many... among us who hide their lethargy under the grab of internationalism. Asked to serve their country they reply: 'Oh Sirs, we are cosmopolitans and believe in universal brotherhood. Let us not quarrel with the British. They are our brothers.' A good idea, a beautiful phrase. But they miss its implication. The doctrine of universal brotherhood demands that the exploitation of man by man and nation by nation must be rendered impossible. Equal opportunity to all with any sort of distinction. But British rule in India is a direct negation of all these, and we shall have nothing to do with it.


One man, in his early 20s, had such thoughts. While reading this book, almost on every page I stop and think, has 20% of his ideas being used and implemented, what has changed since then? Even today one is exploiting the other, yes the change is who and whom. No more there is British rule on India, but the country is now ruled by narrow self made boundaries casts, social status, rich and poor. Forget
about universal brotherhood, do we have a country brotherhood?

This is a big question our generation today faces, where do we want us in the years to come? Has the scarifies made to give us a better living are only important in history books or they still hold some meaning for us?

I Don't Need a Lokpal Bill

I don't need a lokpal bill. I am my own lokpal.

India is a democratic nation and everything from politics to poverty, all problems and solutions start from this country's individual. We have the right to choose our leader then why do we choose someone who in a year we say is involved in illegal things? Who started paying money to officers for doing favor to them in different matters? Who gives black money to builders to save tax?

Who should be hold responsible for this then? Neta or Janta. In my view it’s the later one. We try and hide our income to save tax, converting into black money, and then we take a fake gold bill and reconvert that money in white. But in whole of this transformation we eat the tax we should pay and then we say Mumbai roads have 1000 potholes.

I want to ask generation today a simple question: are we doing our own bit to improve our country? Can we be our own lokpal? If the answer is yes then we don't need a bill to improve our nation and political or any other force can stop us being at the top.

UID

Dear Friends,

Would like you to please encourage unprivileged sections of society in your neighbourhood, to enrol for the UID, using attached enrolment form, downloadable from www.uidai.gov.in.

Process:

Pick the nearest enrolment agency address (usually post office) using toll free number.

Submit the dully filled form with photocopies of proof (carry originals for verification), at agency office location & get your fingerprints & iris scan in the Govt database on schedule date/time.

Benefits: Helps efficient delivery of Public Services like Healthcare, Ration Subsidies / PDS, Employment/ NREGA, Education etc.

Note: You can enroll from anywhere* for any location across India.

*Know the locations where infrastructure has been setup by the UIDAI, (phased rollout across India).

Contact Coordinates:

Email: help@uidai.gov.in ;

Portal: www.uidai.gov.in ;

Phone: 1800 180 1947 ;

Post: PO Box#1947, Bangalore-1

Specially for Indian Women

Chetan Bhagats Article in TOI : Specially for Indian Women

Alright, this is not cool at all. A recent survey by Nielsen has revealed that Indian women are the most stressed out in the world: 87% of our women feel stressed out most of the time. This statistic alone has caused me to stress out. Even in workaholic America, only 53% women feel stressed.

What are we doing to our women? I'm biased, but Indian women are the most beautiful in the world. As mothers, sisters, daughters, colleagues, wives and girlfriends - we love them. Can you imagine life without the ladies?

For now, I want to give Indian women five suggestions to reduce their stress levels.

One, don't ever think you are without power. Give it back to that mother-in-law. Be who you are, not someone she wished you would be. She doesn't like you? That's her problem.

Two, if you are doing a good job at work and your boss doesn't value you - tell him that, or quit. Talented, hard-working people are much in demand.

Three, educate yourself, learn skills, network - figure out ways to be economically independent. So next time your husband tells you that you are not a good enough wife, mother or daughter-in-law, you can tell him to take a hike.

Four, do not ever feel stressed about having a dual responsibility of family and work. It is difficult, but not impossible. The trick is not to expect an A+ in every aspect of your life. You are not taking an exam, and you frankly can't score cent per cent (unless you are in SRCC, of course). It is okay if you don't make four dishes for lunch, one can fill their stomach with one. It is okay if you don't work until midnight and don't get a promotion. Nobody remembers their job designation on their dying day.

Five, most important, don't get competitive with other women. Someone will make a better scrapbook for her school project than you. Another will lose more weight with a better diet. Your neighbour may make six-dabba tiffin for her husband, you don't - big deal. Do your best, but don't keep looking out for the report card, and definitely don't expect to top the class. There is no ideal woman in this world, and if you strive to become one, there will be only one thing you will achieve for certain - stress.

So breathe, chill and relax. Tell yourself you are beautiful, do your best and deserve a peaceful life. Anybody trying to take that away from you is making a mistake, not you. Your purpose of coming to this earth is not to please everyone. Your purpose is to offer what you have to the world, and have a good life in return. The next time this survey comes, I don't want to see Indian women on top of the list. I want them to be the happiest women in the world. Now smile, before your mother-in-law shouts at you for wasting your time reading the newspaper.

Cherish Womanhood.

'India's per capita income may touch $10,000 by 2039'

India's per capita income could touch $10,000 by 2039, up from $1,000 at present, if sustained economic growth of over 8 per cent is maintained for the next 25 years, the country's Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu said.

Addressing economists, investors and academicians in Washington, Basu said the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong enough in the medium and long term to sustain a healthy growth rate of over 8 per cent.

"The per capita income of India will reach $10,000 by 2039. . . if India maintains its gross domestic product growth at 8 to 8.5 per cent for the next 25 years," Basu said at the US-India Economic and Financial Partnership on Monday.

The Indian economy, which expanded by 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, is likely to expand at the same rate in the current fiscal as well.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is leading a high-level delegation here to promote India as an attractive investment destination.

Basu further said a 1 per cent increase in the country's GDP would create an additional one million jobs and India was committed to maintaining the growth momentum.

While India's economic fundamentals are strong, continuous high inflation is seen as a big constraint to its growth.

At the conference, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn said that supply side pressures on inflation may moderate the growth momentum in the short run.

"Inflation is a significant near-term macro challenge and growth would be impacted in the short-term in managing inflation and inflationary expectations," he said.

Besides supply side constraints, high global commodity prices, including food and fuel, are adding up to the inflationary pressures.

Last week, the Indian government raised retail prices of politically sensitive diesel, LPG and kerosene, in the wake of high crude oil prices in global markets.