Diwali Celebration :)

Happy Diwali to you all :) :)

Diwali, The Festival of Lights, is a very special festival in India. Different regions of the country celebrate it with slight differences even though the basic idea behind the festival remains the same. The methods of celebration has changed with time and with the introduction of new technologies especially LEDs, it has become more colourful. Firecrackers is one of the important part of this festival. Children enjoy bursting firecrackers. However, many environmental conservationists are propagating for crackersless Diwalis so that it will be safe and green :)


Here are some glimpses of how New Delhi celebrated Diwali :)

Whole street is lighted up on both sides!! 

Whole street is lighted up on both sides!! (with more light) 

In North India, during Diwali, giving gift to friends and relatives is a tradition. This has been commercialized. See the way gift boxes are kept here :)  Believe me, all those gift boxes do get sold out!!! 

Women selling bunches of flowers 

A boy engaged in his mobile while waiting for customers to sell handicraft works made of mud

The way houses are made to glow with lights 

Glowing houses with colourful lights! 

Glowing houses with colourful lights! 

Oil Lamps made of mud of different size and shape 

Here comes the LED show :) LED has brought a revolution in the world! (Notably, recently Noble Prize was awarded to inventors of  Blue LEDs. Producing Blue LEDs was a great difficult task two decades ago!! Now we can see them in large numbers!)  

Sculptures of Gods and Goddesses and other decorating materials 

Different varieties of garlands :) 

Children bursting firecrackers in front of their houses (on the roads!) 

Why India Needs To Have Strategic Relations With Sri Lanka For A Regional Stronghold

Published in YOUTH KI AWAAZ - http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2014/05/india-needs-strategic-relations-sri-lanka-regional-stronghold/

By Akshara Damle: 

May 16th was a remarkable day for India. The election results brought an end to the era of coalition government. As we have seen in the history of Indian politics, coalition governments cannot take decisions easily as every decision has to get the assent of different political parties with different ideologies. Regional parties exerted pressure and influenced the previous coalition governments on both domestic issues and foreign policies. As a result many decisions were withdrawn or kept pending. The new central government will not face such hurdles. However, it is the responsibility of the government to heed to other parties’ views and seek consensus.

Mr. Narendra Modi’s decision to invite the heads of the SAARC countries is well received and appreciated by foreign policy analysts as a step in redefining India’s foreign relations. Only the state government and leaders of regional parties in Tamil Nadu have criticised the invitation of the president of Sri Lanka. Their concern is legitimate with regard to the treatment of Tamil minorities in Northern and Eastern province in Sri Lanka. In fact, United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has severely criticized Sri Lankan government’s governance deficit in the region and has also passed a resolution against it. It is also seeking a credible international inquiry into killing of Tamils, war crimes and human rights violations in the last leg of the civil war in Sri Lanka. The UNHRC is concerned about the continuing trend of attacks on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association; rising levels of religious intolerance; and continued militarisation in the Northern Province. The video clip released by British television broadcaster Channel 4 accusing the Sri Lankan armed forces of having an underlying culture of systematic brutality and sexual violence poured fuel to the fire. Though human rights violation must be condemned, Tamil Nadu’s demand to boycott Sri Lanka harms India’s national interest.

While there can’t be any justification for mass killing of innocent Tamil minorities or the still prevailing discrimination towards Tamil dominated areas, the problem cannot be solved by closing the doors to Sri Lanka or by stopping bilateral dialogues. Instead, India should enhance its bargaining power and get justice for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka by cultivating better relations.

In fact, the relation between the two countries turned positive when India abstained from voting during the last resolution of UNHRC on March 26 this year. Sri Lankan leadership was delighted and welcomed India’s stand and ordered the release of Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan custody. It is the responsibility of the new government to continue in the positive direction initiated by its predecessor. Earlier in 2013, Tamil Nadu government had successfully deterred the then Prime Minister of India from attending the Commonwealth Summit in Sri Lanka, thereby putting regional interests above national interest for political mileage and this can never be justified.

Apart from the Tamil issue, India needs to consider other developments going on in Sri Lanka, which is a strategic location in the Indian Ocean. As the India-Sri Lanka relationship worsened, the presence of China in Sri Lanka increased significantly. Sri Lanka is one of the important countries with which China wants to enhance its partnership in infrastructure development and establishing free trade zones under the revival of Maritime Silk Route (MSR) policy. China has already built two ports, one in Colombo and another in Hambantota. China has thoughtfully kept India away from its new foreign policy, except for the mention of Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and China (BMIC) pipeline network, even though India is one of the largest markets for Chinese products. This shows the double standards between overt gesture and covert actions of China. China has also collaborated in satellite launching activities with SupremeSAT (Pvt.), Sri Lanka’s only satellite operator.

To counter China, good relations with Sri Lanka and other countries in the Indian Ocean region are very essential. Therefore, strengthening multilateral organizations like SAARC, BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic cooperation) and IOR-ARC (Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation) is a necessity. Sri Lanka, being an important member of these organizations, can never be neglected or sidelined in the foreign policy. Both the countries will have to work together in order to check piracy in the Indian Ocean. Support of Sri Lanka is essential for India to emerge as a Blue water navy in the Indian Ocean and also to get permanent membership in United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Sri Lanka is a good market for India’s automobile industry and it supplies spices, rubber and other plantation crops for us. India has also emerged as a hub for medical tourism, many patients from Sri Lanka and other neighbouring countries come here to get medical treatment.

India must follow the policy of friendly relations with its neighbours guided by the Gujral doctrine. Therefore Mr. Modi’s decision is a good start in the right direction. The states must cooperate with the Centre to find the right balance between national interest and regional interests.

What do you think?

ENTRY AND EXIT OF FDI: A CASE OF DOCOMO

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an important aspect for a growing economy like India. Our nation has allowed FDI in different sectors like multi-brand retail, single brand retail, telecom, insurance, media, defence and so on. Presence of a foreign investor not only adds quality but also some glamour to the sector. The entry of foreign investors gives confidence to a country that it is investment friendly and their exit equally gives pain. The appearance of fault line in TATA DOCOMO resulting in TATA and NTT DOCOMO is a case in point.

TATA DOCOMO (TD) created a new trend of 1paisa (ps) per second, when it made a foray into the Indian telecom sector. Prior to the entry of Tata Docomo, other mobile service providers were offering a minute’s pulse rate. Whether a person spoke for 15 seconds or 1 minute 2 seconds, he had to pay the price for 1 minute and 2 minutes respectively. During that period, Tata Docomo’s offer asking customers to pay for what they use was a new thing for Indian telecom industry and was expected to create a boom! Some long talkers soon realised that they will end up paying more if they choose this service as already established service providers like Airtel, Idea, BSNL and Vodafone were providing 50ps/minute call rate. However, it was very useful for those who made many short duration calls!

But then change in the number was a problem for many at that point of time as Mobile Number Portability (MNP) option did not exist. This prevented many from shifting completely to TD and some people used it as an alternative number. The entry of dual sim phones in the Indian mobile market was a boon for such people. Unfortunately, for TD, the competitors never lagged behind in providing 1ps/second offers. In fact, service provider like Airtel which had very good penetration, a large customer base and was appreciated by customers for its signal strength provided an option for them to choose between minute pulse and second pulse. So long talkers continued their existing plans and short talkers changed their plans and not the service provider. This prohibited many customers from buying new TD sims which had limited network coverage and had only second pulse rate option and not minute pulse rate. To tackle this, TD introduced other offers like 1ps/2seconds, 3ps/4seconds and so on. But bringing similar offers was not a big deal for the competitors! Rather, it helped them in diversifying tariff plans. Due to poor network connectivity, other Value Added Services (VAS) of TD didn’t help in attracting more customers.

Later, it was the turn of ‘cost of sim’ game! At a time when customers had to pay an amount nearly Rs. 100 to obtain a new sim, TD started providing sims at as cheap as Rs. 2! For students like me, it was like buying chocolates! The expenditure to get our photo and ID cards was more than the cost of buying a sim! With such an offer, a single customer bought 5 to 6 sims at a time. I am no different. I too had bought four sims of TD at a cost of Rs. 8! To make the offer more interesting, the company had also provided a talktime of Rs. 40 in each of those sims! I myself didn’t know what to do with so many sims! But I purchased them. I and most of the customers like me thought that the one who bought maximum sims was more intelligent in grabbing such offers! There was an upper limit of eight sims in a person’s name! Otherwise, many people including me would have purchased 25 to 30 or even 50 sims! I used to call my parents everyday from different sims in order to keep them activated.

To be realistic, it was a dirty bomb by Tata Docomo! In fact, TD itself couldn’t keep a hold on mad rush for its sims! (rather ‘sins’). May be, the company was initially happy for its wittiness to increase its consumer base. But it turned to be a pseudo-consumer base! Sooner than later, the customers started getting call from the company to verify their ID proofs. The company had failed to manage the documents and it had ended up in a mess. Many customers had to re-submit their documents! This irked the consumers! Visiting a photocopy shop, again to get copies of photograph and then go to the simcard dealer, fill up the form and submit was really a tedious process. So people like me, who had bought sims only to ‘utilize’ the offer thought of finishing the talktime available in each of the sims and keep them somewhere safe so that they can be used for contact transfer when we change the phone!

In a way, the idea of increasing customer base had landed in a disaster! The reliability of quality of product for which TATA is popular for couldn’t really keep its stature in this game! Though at that point of time I didn’t think so much, but now when I think about it I feel, probably this low cost sim scheme might have been a boon for terrorists or anti-nationals. Even otherwise, they possess so many sims with them, and if it is available at a toffee rate, will they not utilize it!? Aren’t they ‘intelligent’!?

On a broader perspective, the entry of NTT Docomo, which is one of the best mobile operators in the World, was a very positive sign for India. As the TD website says, NTT Docomo provided cutting edge technology. Technologists at DOCOMO have defined industry benchmarks like 3G technology, as also products and services like i-Mode, e-wallet and a plethora of lifestyle-enhancing applications. Last year itself, while most of the rest of the industry were only beginning to talk of 4G technology and its possible applications, DOCOMO had already concluded conducting 4G trials in physical geographies, not just inside laboratories!

The investment by NTT Docomo was one of the biggest Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in India. It had not only brought the much needed dollars to the country but also technology and human resource. Despite this, the company incurred losses in India and has finally decided to sell its shares and exit. But this exit will mark a black spot for Indian economy. If such a technologically advanced company fails to make profit in a country like India which has seen drastic increase in the number of households having cellphones from 7 per cent in 2004 to 82 per cent in 2011 – 12, then the possibility of other FDIs coming into country also becomes dismal. Not only in FDI terms, but also in terms of bilateral relations, Tata – Docomo partnership had helped in enhancing India – Japan relations.
If this partnership had become successful, then it would have attracted many more Japanese firms to invest in India. Now it was the right time for India to grab maximum investments from Japan under the regime of a pro-Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Shinzo Abe. Our neighbour China, though not in good terms with Japan due to Senkaku island issue, has presence of 10 times more number of Japanese companies than what India has. So, India should consider the exit of NTT Docomo seriously and address the issues to make the nation more investment friendly. Indian companies should devise right strategies to make collaborations successful.

Women Empowered!?

The International Women’s Day was celebrated on 8th March. The morning news paper reminded it to me. No celebration at home. My mother is busy doing her regular chores as usual. I wondered then this day is for whom? I thought of making a quick survey. I sent text messages to some 30 women in my contact list saying “Happy women’s day. Let women be more powerful”. I got only 3 replies! I wondered! What about others!? Aren’t they celebrating Women’s Day? Don’t they think that celebrating women’s day is necessary!? Or is it that they have no meaning to it since the celebration of women’s day never changes their lot. In fact, all the women whom I had sent messages are well educated. Still, there is no cheer in celebrating women’s day! Then what is the status with uneducated, illiterate women in our society?

            It is correctly said that “if you educate a woman it is like making the whole family   educated!” In fact, some results have shown that education of women has improved their health conditions, has improved their child care practices, it has improved their social mingling. The concept of Self Help Group has worked wonderfully and one of the best examples is SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association). We do see many women working in different fields, some of which were traditionally male dominated!

But the question remains that “whether education has changed the attitude of men towards women!?” The results seem to be dismal. The treatment of women in households has not really changed. The culinary works still remain the domain of women in the houses. Even in nuclear families where both husband and wife are working, women have to do domestic works and then have to go for office. Husbands still continue to pick up the newspaper in the morning and sit on a chair waiting for tea to arrive to their place. Sipping of tea and reading of newspaper goes on till it is the time to get ready to go for office! By then breakfast is expected. The shoes should be polished and they do not know where is their pant or shirt, leave alone belt, socks, watch and purse! The laptop should be kept inside the bag and tiffin should be ready (if lunch is not available in the office)! If these things are not done properly, these husbands start grumbling for the inefficiency of their wives to get the things done on time! The blame will be again on their wives if they miss the bus or if they get jammed in the traffic. There is no consideration at all for their wives who also have to get ready to go for office! On returning home in the evening, a cup of tea is expected to be ready! If wife is late to return from the office, she will have to see the kitchen in a bad shape where so many vessels being misplaced, unlided sugar and tea powder bottles, milk in the vessel kept open, some biscuit packets opened and kept here and there and some powder on the floor with no hint from where it fell! Generally she doesn’t dare to question this adventurous act. If she does, then the ready counter is “I didn’t find the vessel to prepare tea. I had to search so much to get it. Why don’t you keep it in some place where it is easily available!” She will think it would be wise to keep quiet as these arguments are never ending!     

The most expected thing from women still remains “the ability to cook”. Many educated men do consider it as one of the ‘most important’ thing to be asked while choosing a bride for them! I wonder how cooking has become so important criteria undermining educational qualification, work profile and so on, even though they are well educated!  

Glass ceiling effect is not a new phenomenon. Very few women have been able to break the glass! Recently Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, told the assembled global elite at World Economic Forum that she had been opposed to quotas until a moment early in her career when she was told she would not progress because she was a woman. “I soon realised that unless we had targets, if not quotas, there was no way” to make headway, she said. This is a clear sign of educated men still considering women to be less capable of doing things!

It has become very common to see reports of rape incidents in newspapers. Many of us have become more desensitized to such reports. If we analyse these reports, it is quite prevalent to see that many of the rapes are by intimate partners! We get to see many well educated men who are in very good posts involved in such cases.

Right from Supreme court judges to journalists, professors, doctors have been alleged of sexual assault! Uneducated, illiterate men add to these numbers!  That means education has failed to bring attitudinal change in men. The overpowering nature of men still continues even though the structure of society is changing!

Unless there is attitudinal change, real women empowerment will not happen even if successive governments bring more and more legislations!

System down and anarchy up!

I completed my work in a hurry and looked at my watch as I was getting late. After lifting the heavy bag on my shoulder, I walked quickly towards the bus stand lest I miss the express bus. I had to reach my destination before night. On reaching the bus station I noticed that the bus was yet to arrive. I sighed a relief and looked around. The bus stand was crowded with passengers who were waiting for their buses. Luckily, my bus arrived after few minutes and it was parked at the platform. No sooner, I walked towards the door of the bus a queue of five to six persons was formed as commuters were waiting for passengers to alight from the vehicle. I also stood next to them.

Meanwhile, a group of young men arrived and threw their bags on the seats through windows and reserved seats for themselves. Few of them tampered in between the passengers who were alighting from the bus and reserved some more seats for their friends. Passengers standing in the queue shouted at them to form queues and follow the system. They never paid attention and went ahead! By the time we entered inside the bus no seats remained vacant! All of us complained to the conductor about this matter. He turned a deaf ear towards our demand!

I swiftly inquired with the co-passengers and learnt that no bus service was immediately available if I failed to board the bus which was scheduled to depart. Thus the only option left for me was to commute in the same bus. A fury ran through my nerves. I felt as if I was let down by the system. Nobody respected those passengers who were following the rules by standing in queue. On the contrary they mocked at us for our inability to grab the seats! I had to control my anger in silence!

It was not the difficulty to stand for three hours in bus which worried me but I was more bothered about the collapse of the system. Why are we not capable of getting things done as per rules? Why do we allow people to break the rules and enjoy unfair advantages? Why in democracy, might is allowed to be honoured? No answer except the ‘public mindset’ which accepts misrule as the procedure of the day. It has become a very casual aspect for us. In the present situation the personal agenda is to break the rule but be intelligent and get the things done! Because everyone is aware that nothing goes according to the rule!

I was sure that passengers will have to struggle to get a seat in the next bus too. A group of hooligans is always present while boarding the bus for creating trouble for commuters. If things continue to remain like this then how will the problems of common man be resolved? An old person who was standing beside me was suffering in silence while travelling in the bus. He meekly smiled at me and said, “I am a regular commuter of this bus. I usually travel as a standing passenger which is very common aspect. I am only able to occupy a seat on rare occasions. We need to adjust with the system! You can’t change the world, you need to change yourself!” I was surprised to notice that inspite of undergoing hardships daily this elderly person couldn’t learn the lesson to become unruly for grabbing a seat. He calmly replied, “I am a man of principles. I am sure, one day people will learn to follow the rules and become disciplined”. I smiled and said “hmmm”! However, I remained unconvinced by his statement and began thinking whether people will look towards such men and learn from them.

I thought I should raise this issue to change at least one person. So I tried to convince a youngster sitting beside us and said him that what he did was wrong. The youth should have followed the rules which would have made the lives of fellow commuters easier. He surprised me by saying that if everyone follows the rule then he too will follow. Refusing to vacate the seat for the elderly he told me, “Take it easy. Anyway we have boarded the bus and let’s avoid arguments.”

Unfortunately my mind would not stop thinking about the steps to be taken to reform the system? What would happen if I sit on the road observing a dharna in front of the bus and call it off until justice was attained? Then people would call me mad. Commuters might address me as an “educated idiot”! Many bystanders might comment that I didn’t have any other work to do! Even the media will label me as an ‘anarchist’! The incident would go down in history as someone had tried to challenge the deteriorated system in vain.

There are many people who criticise about the collapse of the system but they do not join hands to correct it. The reason why this is happening is that the society is fractured and the pieces do not forge into a unity to oppose the unruly elements. Each one has his own point of view for evaluating the injustice. For instance, take the example of transport system where categories of buses ranging from most luxurious to most ordinary exist. You are entitled to receive amenities as per your purchasing power. People select buses according to their purchasing power. Then who will fight for the common man’s rights? Only the anarchist!?