India Log book...

New York Times apologised for a cartoon published in its newspaper. Cartoon categorically depicts India's Mars space mission as an attempt to enter into elite club of space missions. Before moving ahead, let’s talk about this cartoon first.  Controversial cartoon depicts an Indian scientist with a buffalo. Scientist is wearing a traditional Indian attire dhoti and knocking at the cabin where two elite scientists are reading a newspaper. Newspaper's headline writes India's Mars mission. Cartoon depicts how India is trying to enter this elite club of Mars mission where developed countries already have a presence. Hong Kong   based Cheng has made this cartoon, who is famous for cartoons on world affairs. So what made New York Times to pull out this cartoon? Many readers complained that cartoon is full of racial overtone and mocks India's ambitious mars mission. This is not a first incident and I feel this won't be the last. What Indi...

Its a jouney to understand the political mood of the country. Extensive tour around the country just to take a look how common man is thinking about 2014 Indian general election. People will choose 543 member of parliament during month long, most expensive and extremly tiresome election process. It is thus important to notice whether local issues plays an important role in choosing a leader from a particular constitueny.

It is great that Anna is gathering support of NRI's for his anti corruption movement outside India. Leading a parade in New York is also an example in this regard. But the question is how all these efforts will pay dividend in not so far general election which is due next year. It may happen soon also. Anna's movement, if we see correctly, is confined to mostly middle class. And this class has almost minimal role in the democratic process of electing candidates. They always regard Election Day as holiday and confine themselves inside the home or involve in some stupid recreational activities rather than standing in the long queues to cast their valuable votes for a genuine candidate. Their so called aggression is limited to writing on web, liking pages, twitting and lighting candles to support the cause. It is alright to do all these things and nothing wrong in that but, it is also important to do more than that. Till now, middle class’s participation in the electio...

What could be more important for a parent to provide rightful atmosphere for study, sports and overall growth to his/her kid? When a child starts going to school a new chapter of life unfolds and a new beginning for his/her parents also takes place with happiness and so many sparkling dreams for a great future. First time, child steps out from the security of their confined secure spaces and steps into a new world, they make friends for lifetime, play various games and start learning the books of knowledge. For the first time parents as well school notice the inclination of a student's mind. Over the years children develop their choice of area to grow be it sports, studies or any other extra curricular activities. Here comes the role of schools and parents to let them do whatever they want to pursue. But an unhealthy trend has been noticed over the years that many grade hungry private schools often force weak students to leave after class IX so that a school can remain mai...

Now India's biggest anti corruption movement for Lokpal is turning itself into a political party. And this is going to raise a lot of questions as well as hope. Today is the new beginning for team Anna who is leaving behind their 16 month long movement and heading towards forming a new political party who will contest 2014 general elections. Team Anna's hopelessness in transporting a change in the system by bringing Lokpal into reality ultimately resulting in fighting with the system by forming a political party. But how much this decision is right only time will tell. Those big words by Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and other team Anna members are very catchy and impressive for public but in reality it is looking more like a mirage where goal seems always far. It has been said and most of the time it was observed that face saving exercise for team anna forced them to take this decision of forming a political party. It was clear the real croud were not pre...

Once again Anna Hazare and his team is fasting for Lokpal in New Delhi. But the mood is different and the momentum seems lost somewhere this time. Last year when Anna started his fast unto death everybody was enthusiastic about the cause but a lot happened since then. Team Anna has been targeted so many times by different agencies on different grounds. But they kept saying that they will come again strongly and won't bow their heads for fight against corruption and will push strongly for Lokpal. But the biggest letdown happened when a nominal number of public was observed in their fast on Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. This type of movement draws its energy from the public. Last year's fast was historic which noticed great support from all over India in 13 days and compelled UPA government to take step towards anti graft bill. Electronic media also played a significant role in awaring people towards the cause in 2011. Public came from every nook and corner. But surprisingly the...

Its a power game and there is a constant need to always be in the news. There is a need to be always connected with the people who hold the power to cast the vote and elect. We have a population of over one billion and half of them are young. We have a strong work force to reckon with. These dynamic young people are the first ones to embrace new technology and they are very much active on social media. Anna Hazare's anti corruption movement is hugely dependent on the power of social media to pull people on streets. Just take a moment and think how many people knew Anna Hazare one years ago. He was a regional icon not a pan Indian one. There was a strong social media campaign behind him. Many political leaders are admitting this very fact that social media can take them to innumerable people instantly and they can directly interact with them  too. It is a direct and a huge public relation platform and every political leader wants a pie of it.  Shashi ...

Though I live in a metropolitan city but I often remember my small hometown in eastern part of the country. We were a bunch of friends...good friends bonded over a lot of playful activities. Summer breaks were a great moment of joy as schools were closed and there were no routines to be followed. From morning till night we used to play most of the times. There were three playgrounds, two big and one small in the vicinity. Morning was for football and evenings were exclusively reserved for Cricket or Badminton. Ah! We had a lot of fun. Sometimes, apart from going to the playground we used to play kabaddi in the gali (Lane) with all boys and girls. Those were golden days. After completing my schooling we moved to Delhi for graduation and post graduation. Delhi was a big cultural shock for all of us but bigger shock was when we observed that children playing in the small colony parks rather going to the nearest playground. And the park was also not meant for their playful acti...

When you move to   Delhi   roads you can easily notice many children begging with their parents. It is a bare fact we all come across everywhere in the country which is very sad too. These children do not go to school; they do not enjoy two meals a day like other children. Most of the public take a look at them once and move forward. But these children stays there and their hope for a better future too.   Though literacy rate in   India   improved significantly over the last one decade but we have a long way to go. Over the years after liberalization and privatization Indian economy has shown remarkable growth signs but at the same time it has been noticed that poor have become poorer and rich people have become richer. That means a great divide is building slowly in the country. To check this we need to improve some aspects at the grass root level and one of those things are inclusive education.  Every child has the right to study and gover...

Let’s start with the good news. Now government has notified that excellence in any field of human endeavour could be awarded for prestigious Bharat Ratna Award. Earlier only persons excelling in the fields of literature, arts, public services & science were only eligible for this award. There were a huge demand from the sports fraternity to include sportspersons for the award and the demand was reasonable too. Any person who is selflessly serving the country in his or her respective fields is very much eligible. So why this limitation of only considering four fields for the awards? It is indeed big news. We have seen many personalities doing extraordinary work in their respective fields but they did not belong to those four categories. Cricket lovers have also demanded Bharat Ratna for Sachin Tendulkar. I am not against of it. But my objection is why not go ahead with greatest Hockey player Major Dhyan Chand instead of Sachin in sports. Nobody questions the eligibility of m...

Do we live in the era of censorship? No. But communication minister Kapil Sibal's latest offensive to force social networking site facebook to prescreen content denotes just like that. Facebook or other social networking websites like Google plus, Orkut, Twitter etc. gives a great platform to people from all walk of life to express their feelings freely. People connect with each other and share their updates and views on many subjects personal or impersonal. We live in the era of internet revolution where everything is available 24 hours within a click of mouse. Anybody can access anything from anywhere. Content which were hidden is no longer veiled now. It is being shared freely and social networking sites are playing a major role in spreading awareness to the people. It seems Kapil Sibal represents a broader feudal mentality of political class which only wants to hear pleasing things and not comfortable with creative criticism.  We are in the middle of winter session of th...

We all have seen how our leaders are dependent for their work on assistants. Long time back Indian government provided personal computers to all member of parliament (MP). But till date only few have the knowledge of how they work. MPs are still dependent on assistants for computer related work. Lets say computers are not too user friendly for old fashioned leaders and many of them still find it cumbersome to use. Now Government of India is planning to provide Ipads to its MPs because they are more user friendly and easy to use and it will also limit the use of bundles of papers carried by them. Government will sanction Rs. 50,000 as allowance to 545 member of parliament to buy these tablet devices.  I am not old fashioned and neither I am against of our MPs using these hi tech gadgets. But the question is: Is it really going to help them in their work? Needless to say all parties are busy in devising the ways how parliament should not function properly? In this winter se...

What is striking in the recent bomb blast in national capital is people’s growing disbelief in government, authorities and agencies. They are now aware of the fact that blaming to each other's repeated failures are just the routine work and on the other hand agencies believe that after some days of excessive media criticism people will stop thinking about the incident and hence nobody will take note of it. Public are also in view that opposition parties will take this bomb blast as an opportunity to make some statements without taking any concrete step towards bashing government for its inefficiency to tackle such terror attacks in the future. And government as usual tries to defend her position by saying they had the information and already passed it to the state agencies to take further action. A classic example of passing the buck. Being a media professional I come across a lot of people daily from different walks of life and believe me they all are in view that govern...

Victory of Nitish Kumar in Bihar Assembly elections this month marks starting of an era of developmental politics in the most backward state of India. This election was fought on two opposite issues. One was issue of development led by JDU leader and CM Nitish Kumar and other was issue of caste led by Lalu Prasad Yadav & Ram Vilas Paswan. Massive defeat of Lalu forces also signifies the demise of age old caste based politics system in the state. Those who are high on development and can deliver according to the aspirations of the Biharis are the clear winners. All praise for Nitish kumar and his highly motivated team, for them second term in power surely means more responsibility and challenges. Bihar is waiting to write a new chapter full of hope, development and opportunity.

UPA government's first year achievement in second inning: price rise, inflation, mishandling of naxal problem, disaster in sharm-el-sheikh, telecom controversy and many more. Common man think whenever congress returns in power inflation reaches higher level and continious rise in prices of essential goods makes living more burdensome. Why it is so? An't we a welfare state? Why in the age of liberalisation & privatisation rich are becoming more richer and poor are becoming even poorer? Perhaps answer lies inside the government.

Before mandate 2009 I used to think the days for national level political parties are over. The way regional parties have grown in terms of influence, charisma and putting regional interest and aspirations to forefront is a matter of great study. The rise of Bahujan Samaj party, Samajwadi Party, Rastriya Janta Dal, Lok Janshakti Party, Prajarajyam, AIADMK, RLD, BJD, Shiv Sena, JDU and the consequent downfall in the voting share of Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party made me think that the days are in fact over for single party rule in the centre. Yes after 2004 election UPA (United Progressive Alliance) had formed government with more than twenty other regional parties. Before that NDA (Nation Democratic Alliance) did the same with BJP being the largest party. Both UPA and NDA had the support of regional parties, which grew stronger after every assembly and general elections. Growth of these parties also denoted growing decrease in the vote shares of national par...