Professor Sandeep Desai... Man with a mission..

A day back my sister told me about some professor which Salman Khan had mentioned in his tweets. The tweet was "Prof sandeep desai ka jawab nahi .kamaal karte ho yaar prof saheb"

Then i tried to find out what's all this about and was excited on knowing about this man Prfessor Sandeep Desai. Thought of communicating this to all on how one can make a huge  difference on his own rather than blaming the system for everything. The cotents are from Times of India. 

As the train leaves Churchgate station, a deep voice announces in chaste Marathi, "Vidya daan sarva sreshtha daan aahe. (Donation towards education is the greatest donation.)" Standing amid the crush of commuters in the humid second-class compartment, a middle-aged man with a rucksack follows up his opening aphorism with a one-minute speech on how a small donation from commuters could help rescue the poor from the scourge of illiteracy. He proceeds to deliver the same speech in fluent English and Hindi and then extends his donation box. 

Professor Sandeep Desai has been following this unusual routine for the last five months. Every morning, he boards a Churchgate-bound train from Goregaon and does the gruelling commute back and forth between the two stations to collect donations for his half-constructed school at Nanar village in Ratnagiri district. "I do this for six hours daily," says the former engineer who used to teach at the S P Jain Institute of Management and Research. 

Desai's social service began in 1997 when he quit his job and took up other assignments to fund Shloka, a free English-medium school for children from the Goregaon slums. "After Shloka, which we started in 2005, we began our second school at Ratnagiri for poor rural children, but the construction got delayed due to a shortage of funds," he says. That's when he decided to collect money directly from the common man. "The response has been great. In just five months, I have collected over Rs 4 lakh," he says. 

The professor says it isn't just about money—he actively looks for teaching volunteers as well. "I want people to be aware that if India has to progress, every child from the slums and rural areas has to become literate," he says. During his collection drives, thus, Desai invites every commuter to become a vidya sevak or volunteer who can teach at his schools. "So far 15 people have volunteered," he says. "The volunteers are free to teach whatever subjects they want, but we insist that they teach for at least 10 hours a month." 

On an average, Desai collects around Rs 3,000 every day. "I usually begin after noon and end by 6 pm. Commuters are usually reluctant to open their purse during peak hours," he says. Initially he did feel awkward passing his hat around. "The first day I could not even make a speech till the train reached Andheri. But an inner voice told me that I was not begging for myself but for a greater cause that will change the lives of thousands of poor kids across Maharashtra," he says. 

Desai accepts donations from 50 paise to Rs 1,000 with equal humility. "I go back and do my accounts till the last denomination and deposit the money in the bank account maintained by the trust," he says. His contributors range from youngsters to senior citizens. "Once, two cops who got into the train to catch hold of some card-playing commuters heard my speech and donated some money. This school, when it comes up, will be a living testimony to the generosity of Mumbai commuters," he concludes, as boards another Borivli fast.

Actor Salman Khan was among the many people who came forward to lend a helping hand. The actor tweeted on Sunday, "Prof Sandeep Desai ka jawab nahi. Kamaal karte ho yaar prof sahib," The actor has not only donated money for the school but even tweeted the bank account number of the school so that his fans can contribute. 

"Salman called me up and he took my bank account details. He has told me that he will contribute," Desai said, adding, "I have been inundated with calls and emails from across the world offering financial aid." 

But, according to Desai, he felt the "biggest" difference when he got into a train on Monday morning and was about to deliver his one-minute speech in Marathi, Hindi and English on how commuters could help rescue the poor from the scourge of illiteracy. 

"People recognised me immediately and began donating money even before I began my speech. The response has been overwhelming and I collected Rs 8,200 in just three hours," Desai said. "I think I can now fulfill the dream of my mother who was a school teacher. She too wanted to start a school in her village," he added. 

In 2001, Desai founded the Shloka Missionaries, a non-charitable trust, along with two other trustees in order to spread literacy among the poorest of poor in India. "We realised that though many poor students were highly intelligent, they failed in English and science. This was because they could not comprehend the medium of communication," he says. 

Prof Sandeep Desai can be contacted on 9322757030. His bank account details: bank account no 002210100040149 bank of india goregaon east branch.  Do visit  http://shlokamissionaries.org/ 

Hats off to the person. Do conttribute something to this noble cause on this joy of giving week. Also i extend special thanks to tweet of Salman Khan. The classic example of power of a celebrity using twitter. :) 

Teacher's Day

I happen to see a write up from Mr. Girish Aithal, who has an IT experience of 20+ years at various levels. The views conveyed by him match with the views i have on what a Teacher should be. I sought his permission to post it in my blog and he readily obliged. His article follows:

 

 

Being a teacher myself and taught & being taught by many teachers then and now, I thought of putting across some of my thoughts in this context. What I would expect from a typical teacher are:

• Don't teach, inspire people instead! Make them think. Ask a practical question before introducing a new theory. E.g. If you are teaching chemistry, ask what happens to the water temperature if some salt is dissolved in it - does it remain the same, increases or decreases and why? Where do you find practical application of it? That will make the students think and inspire them to learn more and ask more questions.
• Reduce your ego! The amount of ego we have is inversely proportional to the amount of knowledge we possess and directly proportional to the no. of weaknesses we have. If we make a mistake, I don't think there is anything wrong in admitting it in front of the students (irrespective of their ages) for there is no "know-all" person in the whole world.
• Never underestimate students' capability; they are smarter than you think they are (again, irrespective of their ages). They also do have their senses and thinking capabilities. Let's respect it.
• Everybody does mistakes. I don't believe in punishing students for their wrongdoings unless they are repeating it many times. E.g. If some students arrive late to the class everyday, you can try to pleasantly embarrass them by asking rest of them to clap or stand-up when they come in late. Chances are that they come late to the class from next day is very less. Try it! (I had a headmaster in my elementary school, who used to whip with a rope for even very small mistakes of students. I still remember him not with respect, but still with that fear! I don't think anybody would like to be remembered that way. :-)
• Give lot of practical examples and real-life stories. There's nobody who is not interested in listening to stories. If it's a science subject, show practicals in the class. We had a science teacher in 9th std, who used to bring lot of apparatus from the lab to the class to show practicals. He was a real inspiration to many of us.
• Walk the talk (which many of us fail to do) before 'preaching' anything to students. If you expect them to be in the class on time, you better be in the class on time always. All other reasons are just excuses. If you want them to be clean, make sure that you erase the board every time before you leave the class. If you commit something to them on a particular day, stick to it.
• Do socialize with students - talk about their life, games, movies, outings, etc. It will help them open-up. They will be more interactive in the class and there will be less trouble makers
• Never gossip! Even though this looks silly, I've seen people gossiping (about students, other faculty, their relationships and many others which I can't mention here) in schools & colleges. In certain cases, I've seen higher authorities taking decisions in professional colleges based on gossips without even bothering to verify the facts, which is really unprofessional.
• Read, read and read a lot. Read subject related stuff; read outside the subject area (e.g. technical / related magazines, websites, management related contents, etc. which indirectly help in getting to know more about the subject and the profession) and 'read' about current affairs. Take it from me, this will help us while teaching our subjects.

I think if we treat students as one among us, everything will fall into place. 

Disclaimer: These are just my thoughts. Any resemblance or similarity with any situation or person is purely unintentional.

 

You can access his blog at  http://gaithal.blogspot.com/2010/09/teachers-day.html 

 

I thank Girish Aital Sir for a timely write up on this.

 

37% of Senior Citizens are living alone !!!!

Since a month we have all seen many kinds of paadayatra :) Today morning i happen to read an article in the news  paper. It was about Senior Citizens taking a paadayatra in some city and observing a protest day in some other city. I gave it a thought and the result: off course my views on it:)

And then i began to flip the pages further and i found a very nice article “Cousin who, uncle who? we are a  nuclear family”

The connection between these two news item must be obvious by now:) Number of nuclear families are having a direct influence on the plight of the senior citizens.

I want to quote a dialogue from Munna Bhai MBBS here. Sanjay Dutt enters his room in the medical college hostel and he says “ भाई यह कैसा कमरा है... छल्लू होते ही ख़तम होगय !!! !!!” . For most of today’s young generation this quote holds good. The family begins and ends with the nuclear family :)

Let me go back how i used to spend the vacations during school days for 2 months in April, May and a mini vacation in October for Dasara. Summer vacation - grand parents place was the perfect destination. A village called Hedathale near Nanjangud (which is 45 kms from Mysore). My cousins, too, came from different places and we used to spend the time together. We played all kind of funny games, went around the village, ate the delicious food prepared by grand mother. Some times our pranks used to land us in trouble and my grand father used to get complaints from his neighbours “Your grand kids did this did that”. I remember in one such instance we were tied to the pillar in the hall for 3 hours :) Me and my cousin Ramu had this habit of feeding the cows in excess whenever our grand father went to sleep. He would later notice that the stock feed was getting emptied quickly. He would then come and take us to task :) My grand father was an exceptional Chess player. Defeating him in Chess was one hell of a task. The annual fairs were a real treat. Grand mother telling us stories of her times and sometimes scary stories would make our sweet sleep terrible :) Directly or indirectly we learnt lot of lessons during such visits. My grand father is 86 years old now and grand mother 76. They will be coming to my place this month end and am doubly excited to have them :)

Now coming to the present generation. How many of them will have such an opportunity. How many of them visit relatives place and stay for even a day. In short the families have become nuclear. The hectic city life style that provides little time for family, the advent of countless television channels and computers have all indirectly contributed to the growth of nuclear families.

Most of the young generation work in city living parents alone to manage on their own. Many go abroad as well. And their parents tell with pride that their son is in UK, daughter married to a guy in U.S but internally trust me friends they know what an ideal situation for them would have been. They would have toiled hard to make you stand up on your own. They would have dreamt of playing with their grand son, grand daughter. And suddenly they find themselves alone. A phone call a day and fortnight visit if the son or daughter is working nearby is what happens. There are genuine cases where parents don’t want to relocate to cities but given a choice most of them would love to stay with their son.

This has lead to the emergence of Old age homes and the day won’t be far when after attaining 60 years we will begin a new life by getting admitted to a school. School ??? Ya there will be queues to get into the best of old age homes :)

So friends what’s the solution? Ensure you take your parents to wherever you go to work.  Even if you work abroad you can take them. Spending few thousands on expenses for your dad or mom shouldn’t be a problem. Devote time for them. In case if they prefer to stay in their native do visit them once a week. Take them around. Go to a movie. Have fun with them.

Let us not leave them alone. They are our parents after all and are the reason for our existence.

P.S: Girls who are on the verge of marrying or those who have married, i have a request for you– Don’t insist on staying separate from your in-laws after marriage. :) Believe me their presence will be more than useful to you as well. Instead of some maid taking care of your kid they will take of their grand son or grand daughter with utmost care. :)

God and the Law of Attraction

I have chosen an interesting but also a controversial topic to write this time. I will make an attempt to convey the views which I have on god and link it with something called Law of attraction.

We have numerous religions and they all have evolved over time. It has branched out like a tree wherein if we trace back to its root we all belong to one family. All religions have undergone transformations in their own way. Any religion for that matter has been divided into numerous sects, sub-sects, sub-sectⁿ (to the power of n) over the years.

In this world there exist both good and bad people. I believe the concept of god in most of the religions evolved as a result of showing the people at large what good is all about. It is an attempt made at showing the ideal path of leading life. All religions have stories of victory of good over the evil. The mythological stories always conveyed a bad ending to bad people. In a way the concept of god has also ensured in creating a moral fear among bad people.

Having made this assumption let me take my views forward. As the concept of god and the associated rituals of each religion started gaining more prominence among the people, it had gained a firm footing in the society. The divergent views among a religious community led to the divisions. And today we have so many divisions that it is next to impossible to trace our origin.

I am not going to debate on whether god really exists or not. But I do believe that in some way the existence of a super natural power does more good to the world. I will try to prove this with another concept called Law of attraction.

We all accept the fact that we need to always entertain positive thoughts, we need to be optimistic always, we need to have a good degree of confidence in whatever work we do and so on. The bottom line of this is - any individual who entertains positive thoughts and converts those thoughts to positive action is a winner.

I will use the following quotes from great philosophers to put it more precisely what I conveyed earlier:

Every thought of yours is a real thing – a force

If you see it in your mind, you are going to hold it in your hand

Thoughts become things

What you attract is what you get

Now let me come back to the concept of God. What do we do when we visit temples, church, or mosques? We all pray god for good things. A student appearing for an exam will pray for an easy paper and a good score, a candidate appearing for an interview will pray to get the job, a patient who is about to undergo a surgery will pray for a successful one and so does the doctor. What is happening here? We all are entertaining positive thoughts and it gives us a certain degree of confidence to face the exam or interview.

How many instances have we all seen where in a doctor has given all hopes on the patient surviving but the patient gets back to normalcy in double quick time. It happens because the patient believes he can overcome his chronic health condition and lead a healthy life. Most of the motivational speakers around the world have had such kind of a similar background. I can give few examples here: Cathy Goodman (was diagnosed with Cancer), Morris Goodman also known as Miracle Man (he was completely paralyzed, spinal cord crushed)

Since whenever we pray god we always entertain positive thoughts there is no harm in believing that god exists. We have all heard of miracles happening in and around us. We have heard people saying that I performed this ritual at this temple and I got cured of this disease or I got a job or I go married and so on. What is happening here? Again the law of attraction works. Someone says visit this temple and do this. You follow his words. In effect you start believing that since you have visited the temple whatever your problem is, it will be solved and you start putting more effort because you know it will happen.

Sometimes it may not work out the way you want to. What is the reason for this? Either you are still negative with your thoughts or could be due to lack of effort.

It is also true that people who don’t believe in god are also successful because of their inner positive strength. Though they don’t believe in god their mental thoughts are always positive and end up converting those thoughts to actions.

To sum up my views, it doesn’t matter whether you believe in god or not, be positive and attract positive thoughts. I strongly believe that what we attract is what we get.

Be positive… The law of attraction always works.

4 simple steps for Stroke identification

I got this forward from my school friend Lakshmeesha K V. Many might have received this forward. I just thought of sharing it in my blog. It reads as follows:

During a BBQ(A term for a get-together where food is cooked outdoors, over an open flame), a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics).She said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid(name of that lady) went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.

Some don't die, they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking four simple questions (STR):

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.
T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)(i.e. It is sunny out today.)
R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
S * Ask the person to 'STICK' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

The Betrayal of Bhopal

I just watched the discussion The Betrayal of Bhopal (Bhopal Gas tragedy) on NDTV hosted by Barkha Dutt. Earlier on the day of judgement, CNN IBN had telecast half an hour program on the plight of the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy. I just couldn’t believe that such a thing could ever happen in a civilized society. We have seen natural disasters happen which are beyond ones control but to see man-made disaster leading to the deaths of 20000 to 30000 spanning over 25 years whose impact continues to haunt future generation is unacceptable by any stretch of imagination. Looking at this worst industrial disaster of the world, a sense of helplessness, despair, disgust, anger targeted at the entire system which includes me had marked its presence.

Many of the younger generation are not fully aware of what transpired on that dreadful night, the aftermath and the present. I will make an attempt to present before you the same in a series of articles.

Rajkumar Keswani, a Bhopal journalist (he was present in the debate with Barkha Dutt), wrote a series of articles about the risks which Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal possessed in 1982. At that time, UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of the U.S. company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company. He had also reported about the double standards in setting up similar factory and safety mechanisms in US and Bhopal. That same year, US experts sent by Carbide found 61 potential hazards, 30 of them major. Only the hazards of company's identical plant in the US was fixed. The factory was in total disrepair: by 1984, because of revised safety protocols, the siren warning system had been disconnected, the refrigeration unit and vent gas scrub –which would have cooled and neutralised the gas– had been shut down and Tank 610, containing methyl isocyanate (MIC), was filled above capacity.

On the night of December 2, 1984, water entered Tank 610, setting off an exothermic reaction that blasted 40 tonnes of MIC into the air. People in neighbouring areas were only woken by a burning sensation in their eyes and lungs. Never having been told how to react in the case of a leak, families fatally rushed into the streets to escape the gas. Many fell dead as they ran; others succumbed at hospitals, which were overwhelmed and had only received instructions to administer eye-drops. About 3,800 people were killed on that night; eventually the death toll of that night's exposure would reach 15,000-20,000. The number of the injured would reach 5.5 lakh. The number of children exposed to the gases was at least 200,000. Thousands have died since, many permanently maimed. The genetic and psychological scars threaten to take their toll on generations to come.



Investigations in the affected areas have revealed that 70 per cent of the children born before the disaster continue to suffer from respiratory diseases and 55 per cent from affected eyesight. Children born after the disaster have not been spared. Doctors warn worse effects remain to be seen. Parents are likely to pass on genetic aberrations caused by inhaling the noxious fumes to their children -- through breast milk and genetically. The terrible incident threatens to engender a generation of 'Carbide children', who will carry forward the toxic legacy of their parents in the form of genetic disorders. After the accident, many pregnant women suffered miscarriages, while others delivered still born or malformed babies. More than half the children exposed to the gas in their mothers' wombs died. Many others were born with deformities.



Warren Anderson, CEO of UC arrived in Bhopal a few days later. He was arrested in Bhopal, and then taken to UC guest house. A magistrate was present in the guest house and he was permitted to leave (granted bail)–in the Chief Minister's (Arjun Singh was the Chief Minister ) special plane (Mr. Anderson was treated as VVIP). He left the country and never returned to face trial. The United States government declined to extradite him.



In 1987, the Indian government summoned Anderson, eight other executives and two company affiliates with homicide charges to appear in Indian court. Union Carbide resisted, saying the company is not under Indian jurisdiction.
Negotiations over compensation dragged on for years. In 1989, having estimated 3,000 deaths, the Supreme Court approved a settlement whereby Carbide would pay $470 million–for every last dead cow to every last dead child. When the government discovered that at least five times the number of people had died, they spread out the same amount with its accumulated interest. The family of each dead person received, on average, Rs 63,000. Most people with permanent injuries received 25,000. Many received their compensation nearly a decade after the disaster, without interest. Many claims were denied.

Compare this compensation with $5 billion (ten times the amount), which Exxon paid after the Valdez oil spill near Alaska in 1989, where no humans died. We all know about the oil spill which happened a month ago along the gulf of Mexico. President Obama visited the site today and has asked BP to compensate for the loss irrespective of what the cap put by the government in case of mishaps. Can you ever imagine an Indian Prime Minister saying this?

I have many things to convey on the issue and will be covering them in my next post.

Decision making - Heart vs Mind ....

In our lives we are all faced with a decision to make at some point of time. It could be as small as deciding where to go for a vacation or where to go out to dine or it could be as big as choosing a professional course like medical, dental or engineering or choosing a job or choosing your spouse. I am going to talk about the latter part which involves taking big decisions and how our heart and mind helps us in evaluating and choosing an alternative.

Having set the context let me tell you something about the role of the heart and mind. Let us say you have two options A and B. Let me convey this in a lighter vein. Your parents are searching a bride for you and they show you two girls x and y (Girls please don’t mind that I am using variables x and y). Your task is to choose between two girls. You have met them, interacted with them and have a fair idea on what the girls are. This task is done by our mind. It logically analyses things and construct a meta-data based on different parameters. If the differences between parameters being compared are huge then decision making is obvious. Say girl x fares very poorly in comparision with girl y on some parameters of your choice. Hence the decision making becomes easy and mind says yes. The parameters could be whether you want girl to be career oriented or not, or you want her to stay with parents and so on.

Now consider a scenario where it becomes extremely difficult to decide whom to marry. On some parameters x is better and on some y is better. You have a choice. Your mind has analyzed things but has failed to break the deadlock. This is where your heart comes into picture.

Your heart can’t lie. It knows what it wants. Just close your eyes and I am very sure, one choice will be in front of your eyes even if it’s higher by a small percentage. Go with your heart.

The same scenario can be applied to other cases as well. You are undecided between medical or engineering course. Listen to your heart. Go with it. Don’t look back in regret at any stage. Things will work well.

Now that you have listened to your heart in saying yes to x, it’s time for your mind to take over. And this is where you need to play a major role. Your mind will be in a state where it starts supporting whatever your heart has decided. You need to entertain thoughts which support your final decision. It is not going to be an easy task for sure. Never regret the decision which your heart has taken. But if you fail to do this you will be in trouble for sure. The confusion will again return and you will end up making your life miserable.

One more critical fallout of a decision making process is that you might let down few of your closed ones. It might be parents, sister or brother, relatives or friends. They might have their own choice. They will be disappointed that you didn’t go with their choice. How to manage this? You have made a decision. It’s your life and you are responsible for it. Just tell them that given the scenario you have taken the best decision. If they support you well and good if they don’t support then also it’s well and good. Just move on.

Another consequence of a decision making process is the guilt factor which sometimes shatters your confidence level. This kind of situation arises mostly during relationship break-up. Let us say you have arrived at a decision of saying no to a relation. They will question your decision and ask you to reconsider. And this is where the guilt starts creeping in if you are not strong about what you have decided. How to overcome the guilt? Well it is not an easy job but one way of looking at it is by asking your conscience. Ask yourself whether the decision was taken with the intention of hurting others or with the intention of keeping someone happy. If your answer to this is positive, then the question of guilt creeping in doesn’t arise at all. In extreme cases few loved ones will stop talking to you completely forcing you to think about what you have done. But if your conscience is clear then just get along with it.

To conclude mind analyses things logically and strives to arrive at a decision. If the analysis leads to confusion then ask your heart for answers. No wonder the saying listen to your heart when in confusion holds well all the time.

Law of the Garbage Truck

This is an Internet forward which i received from Praseeda, ex-student of Information Science, NMAMIT, Nitte presently working at TESCO, Bangalore. It conveys a nice message with a short story through an anonymous person.

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so… ‘Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t.’

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

My thoughts on Marriage :)

Marriage - An interesting topic to debate on any given day. The first thing that comes to our mind when we talk on marriage is whether its arranged or love :) I am going to discuss both but my main emphasis is not on which is better but on how to live to ensure a happy relationship exists to the extent possible. The information has been gathered from multiple sources and I will leave it to your assumption whether it also includes my experience or not :)

And also the reason I am writing this is to have clarity on my thoughts about marriage and I welcome all suggestions :)

Marriage can happen either way – arranged or love. Let me talk about love marriage now. I will discuss two variations of love marriage. Let me begin the first one. In some cases they say love happens at first sight. You look at someone and your instinct says I want to marry her. And let me tell you in such scenarios the girl or the boy will always be good looking else I am very sure what I refer to as instinct will never tell you the same when you look at not so good looking boy or girl :) Ok fine, now let us assume a guy’s instinct says yes and he proposes. The girl might take some time before saying a yes or no. Now what happens in this waiting phase? The guy is convinced that the girl is made for her and decides to wait. The girl starts thinking from all perspectives and tries to arrive at a conclusion based on her interests and the guy’s capability to take care of her interests. If the differences are less and not that major she might say a yes soon leading to marriage. If there are many differences or conflicts of interests which are substantial things take more time. What happens now? Since the guy made the initial proposal he starts to compromise a bit to ensure things go fine. Let’s say the girl wants to stay separate from in-laws after marriage. The guy though reluctant might relent to ensure he marries her. So the process of compromise or sacrificing your ideals or value system sets in. The guy starts to yield more than the girl since he made the initial proposal. (If it girl proposes first she will yield more) And it more or less becomes a pattern. The guy justifies these compromises saying it is worth for the love. After more analysis the girl says yes and they finally get married. Now let us consider post marriage scenario. The pattern of guy compromising has set in and it continues for a while. It’s all good for a while before the frustration sets to creep in. The guy starts wondering why he has to yield all the time. The ego sets in. He begins opposing. The girl who has hardly compromised till date starts complaining that her husband has changed and he is not the same as he used to be. No way can she accept her husband’s changed approach. Conflicts occur frequently since both of them are not in a position to manage. And eventually things spiral out of control leading to unhealthy outcome.

Now let me dwell on another form of love marriage. In this guy and girl are initially friends. The relationship begins with friendship. There will be constant interactions and you get to know more of each other. After a while either of them might feel that their interests are similar and begins thinking in terms of love and marriage. He or she might propose and the other party might say a yes or no. In this scenario it may not take much time to decide as they already know each other. It might end abruptly as well. For example the girl might say a strict no conveying she never looked him from that angle and she always thought you as the best friend :) or it might end positively. Let us say it ends positively. Now consider post marriage scenario. By this time more or less the platform for a good life has been laid as they were friends before and know in and out of each other. Compromises will also be there but it will be evenly balanced. In this way the relationship is more secured and the probability of leading a good life is high. I am not saying things will be hundred percent fine. All I am trying to convey it the failure rate will be low.

Now let me come to arranged marriage. A guy goes to see a girl and if the girl is good looking and if he feels positive with whatever little interaction he had with the girl he will say a yes for marriage. Post marriage if the differences are fewer things will go smooth. If the conflict of interests is more, then both will make an attempt to compromise. This is more because of societal and parental pressure. They somehow ensure things don’t go out of control. And it continues. The success rate of marriage judged in terms of getting divorced is less but to what extent the quality of life they lead is open for judgment. It all depends on the extent to which one has compromised. If the compromise is balanced they will lead a good life.

Now what’s the best option? Personally I would prefer the second form of love marriage (initially friends where in you get to know each other and then decide to marry) to arranged marriage and the first form of love marriage (you look at girl and instinctively feel she is your love) comes last in my priority.

Irrespective of the kind of marriage the essential thing in sustaining a good relation is the art of compromise. Nobody here is made for each other. Everyone will have their own interests and perspectives on many issues. Hence it is highly essential to balance these conflicts by compromising. Things will go wrong when this balance on compromises is skewed to an extreme (Either the guy compromises too much or the girl). And one more essential aspect is giving respect to your spouse interests. It implies not imposing your viewpoint or thoughts or actions on the other. I really feel that giving respect to the person as they are and compromising whenever situation arises is essential to the success of any kind of marriage. I know it is easier said but giving it a try won't do any harm either.

That’s it folks. This is my take on marriage. Any suggestions you are most welcome. If you don’t want to discuss it in blog you can mail me anytime :)

P.S: I am still a bachelor :)

Think twice before reacting aggressively….

Let me set the context of this week’s blog.

A person X is a good-hearted person working in a professional organization who always thinks about the welfare of others (Others will be referred as Y) and does things to ensure they are benefited in some way. But circumstances might force him to take a decision which to some extent may end up doing not so good to Y. This might be because of the professional ethics or discipline or due to the kind of values the person X believes in and certainly not with a bad intention. Now the others will obviously be critical of person X and wouldn’t mind taking out their disappointment in some way or the other. The fact which you need to remember is person X has done good many number of times to Y and situation has forced him to take a decision which goes against the wishes of Y.

Two incidents which happened over the last month made me think on this. One such incident I experienced it while the other my friend underwent in a different context.

A month ago one of my student was pretty upset that I had not given him the required marks to clear the paper in the autonomous exams of VTU. He applied for paper seeing and I made all sorts of effort to convince him that it is just not possible to give marks for the sake of it. As expected he was upset and then lodged an official complaint with the higher authorities that I have been unfair to him and partial to someone else. His allegations were verified and they found it to be untrue. The student then applied for challenge valuation and got less marks than what I had given. Initially I was pretty upset with the behavior of the student for whom I had taught 3 subjects and he didn’t think twice before taking such a step. Later I took it in my stride and decided to ignore this by giving the benefit of doubt to the student. Well I want to assure that student that I won’t act in any vindictive manner :-) It’s a different matter that many from that semester have stopped seeing me face to face :-):-) Its fine with me and I guess many of us are used to these kind of situations in this profession.:-) We are here to do our job and we will do it in a professional way.

I will narrate another incident which my friend underwent. He was close to a family (relative of his) for almost 3 years and they trusted him a lot. And again because of circumstances he had to take a tough decision which resulted in relationship getting strained for a while. After a month or so he again made an attempt to set things right but it was misinterpreted. He was criticized and was never given a proper chance. All the good work of his for almost 3 years got washed away and every action of his was now being scrutinized by one and all.

These two incidents clearly illustrate the fact that irrespective of any number of good things you do for someone, one not so good thing which was unintentional, he or she suddenly becomes bad. I am very sure many have experienced the same.

How would you handle such situation? The more you think about it the more you are going to get perturbed. One can just ignore and get along with it as long as your conscience is clear.

There can be also situations where you are at the other end of it. A higher authority or a relative or a friend might have to take a call which could be of some discomfort to you though he/she might have done many good things to you. I have an advice. Just relax and give it a thought. Think about all the good which that person has done to you. Think from his perspective why he had to take a tough decision now. Bottom line is - think as a whole. The percentage of goods will always be on the higher side. If you loose your cool and react aggressively relationship will not be the same anymore.

No matter in what position you are in just think twice before your decision could spoil a relationship. It takes a lot to build a relation and one can never afford to loose it for a minor incident.

Gratitude…. We know what it is but we often forget to express it !!!!!

How can I express my gratitude for all your help?

Gratefulness, appreciation, thankfulness, acknowledgement, recognition, thanks-giving…

We are all pretty much aware of all these things but how often we thank people who have really made our lives better in whatever little way possible is the question which I want to address today.

Let me be consider what I have done on this. Well the answer in terms of percentage is very negligible.

Most of us have seen Autograph movie which has come in all south Indian regional languages. It was an interesting subject which touched many and no wonder it did well at the box office. I happened to see that movie again and it made me think.
I went into a shell and listed out few personalities who have had a positive influence on me in some way or the other. It included my relatives, my school teachers, my friends, my colleagues, my students and many more. And then from that list I started checking how many of them I have thanked for all their contribution in some way or the other. And as mentioned earlier the percentage was very negligible.

Then I thought how I would feel if someone on whom I had a positive impact would write a thanks-giving letter to me. Well it is obvious I would be elated and treasure that letter. And I have treasured those since I joined this profession and big thanks for those who have given. I don’t think many would disagree to this observation of mine. It certainly makes you feel good. And am not talking about someone praising you for the sake of it or with some other intentions. A genuine thanks-giving or expression of gratitude is what I am referring to.

I decided to express my gratitude to all those individuals who have had an influence in shaping my life. The list which I referred was endless. I couldn’t do this at one go. I felt the need to clearly specify in what way they had helped me and thank them for the same.

I have taken a pledge that I will take up this task twice a month - A thanking letter to two individual or two entities for their contribution. As part of this initiative this month I have decided to write a letter to my school St. John’s Boys High School, Mandya where I studied from LKG to Tenth standard. I tried to recollect all the faculty members of the school and I was pleased that I could do a good job of recollecting. Many are still working there and you won’t believe they still remember you and what you were as a student. Hats off to them.

I agree that nobody expects gratitude of this kind but i believe if it comes they would certainly be happy. I know many might think why I am writing these things which are personal in nature. Well I would be glad if after reading this blog if at least one of them does this. Trust me friends it will be an interesting exercise and you will certainly feel good recollecting those good old days and thanking them in some way.

Giving life to someone

Life is precious. We all are aware of it. There are millions of people who are struggling to lead life because of want of organs and kidney tops the list. In recent years there has been effort to create the awareness on organ donation but not on a scale where it could make a huge difference to many struggling lives.

I happen to read a story of a 19-year-old engineering student from Jharkhand studying at NITTE college of Engineering(NMIT), Bangalore, who has in her death given a new life to a patient on dialysis.

She was brought to MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital on March 2 in a critical state with sudden loss of consciousness. She was diagnosed to have massive intra cranial bleeding which prompted immediate surgery to remove the blood clot and decompress the brain as an emergency.

However in spite of all the efforts, the doctors suggested that there were nil chances of her survival. She was declared brain dead. Therefore, after the consent of the family members for multi-organ donation, her organs (two kidneys, a liver and two eyes) were donated.

A resident of Vijayanagar who was diagnosed with an end stage kidney disease and had been on dialysis since June 2009, got a new lease of life after he received the cadaver donor’s kidney from M S Ramaiah Hospital. The kidney was transplanted to him at BGS Global Hospital. The girl’s liver was sent to Christian Medical college, Vellore. Her eyes have been sent to Minto Eye Hospital, to help patient in need of them. Hats off to her parents who took this decision.

Most of the deaths in India do reach a stage of Brain Dead. Brain dead patients can donate kidneys, liver, eyes whereas normal dead patients can only donate eyes and bone marrow.

Brain death is a legal indicator of death that refers to the irreversible end of all brain activity (including involuntary activity necessary to sustain life) due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of blood flow and oxygenation. An organ transplant is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. Organs that can be transplanted are the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestine, thymus, and skin. Tissues include bones, tendons, cornea, heart valves, and veins. Worldwide, the kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organs. [Taken from Wikipedia]

At least 2,00,000 people in India need kidney transplantation every year. But, roughly, one per cent (2000 patients) receive the organ for the transplant.

What could be more gratifying for you and your closed ones when your organs can give life to a struggling person. You may not be there to see the organ transplant but the fact that you will be giving life to someone will definitely make you proud. I just want to make an appeal to take a pledge to donate your organs after your death and also make an effort to educate the elders and relatives to donate multiple organs in case of brain dead or dead. You can go to a local hospital and pledge your eyes to begin with. Life is indeed precious. Please do consider it.

An insight into Kuwait – II

I would like to present a few more interesting observations on my visit to Kuwait.

Being an oil rich country and plenty of money people here move to west provided they know English well. There are lots of US Schools across all level. Many say US is a waning super power but I don’t think it is. They have so much presence all over the globe that one cannot stop admiring their strategies in World Diplomacy. All the gulf countries have American troops stationed as well as air bases. US has established universities across Gulf and most of the Gulf countries recognize degrees of US and that encourages people here to move to US. This definitely boosts US economy because of the amount of spending power these people have.

There are lots Indians working over here in Hotels. They are paid well. Most of them go once per year to their home town during July August. The summer will be at its peak during these months and not many visitors come to Kuwait. Many locals proceed to Europe to take a break from the summer.

Many Indians are working in the government sector as well. There are good number of Indian entrepreneurs who have built their empire in Kuwait and they mostly employ Indians. There are associations like Kannada koota, Tulu koota, Shirva association, Konkani koota, Canara Welfare association, Bunts koota and many more. They conduct regular programs and it binds them being far away from home land. Indians cannot buy any property here but salaries are tax free. In the entire Gulf Dubai is the only place where other country citizens can buy property.

Indian government shares a good rapport with the Kuwait government since ages. In 1950s Kuwait people relied heavily on selling pearls to Indian people and that was their main revenue. Oil driven economy was absent then. Japan started producing artificial pearls and they began flooding the Indian market making it impossible for Kuwaiti to sell pearls which had a huge impact on their economy. Nehru then Prime Minister took a decision to ban the import of Japanese pearls to assist Kuwaiti. Till 1960s Indian currency was the currency in use in most of the Gulf countries. That speaks a lot about the relationship between India and Gulf.

I had mentioned that 2/3rd of the people here in Kuwait are expatriates. The population of Kuwaitis is increasing and they are finding it difficult to get jobs here. Kuwait Government is initiating measures to provide them jobs. For example, Banks have to mandatorily provide 50% jobs for Kuwaitis and this percentage in all likely will be increased shortly. These days’ people from other countries are finding it difficult to get to Kuwait to work here. Strict measures are in place to control the flow of expatriates.

It is not the case that all are born rich here. 25 - 30 % are very rich and the rest have decent employment. The lifestyle is such that whatever they earn they spend it. Because of this spending power the economy is strong.

We pay 50 Rs per litre of Petrol. Any guess how much it costs in Kuwait. A mere 10 Rs per litre. No wonder one can find a million vehicles on road here. Power is generated in excess using the oil produced locally. Water is generated from desalination. All the other items are imported.

On the last day of our visit we went to Udupi restaurant with Mr. James Tellis to have lunch and it was really good.

With this I conclude my write up on the visit to Kuwait. It was a great experience. Thanks to Mr Ramesh Karnik sir who accompanied me and was a rich source of information. Mr Satish Chandra Shetty, Indian entrepreneur in Kuwait (Managing Director of Oriental Restaurant & Confectionery) was with us for most part of our visit and was extremely helpful.A special thanks to him.

An insight into Kuwait

Its been 5 days since my arrival in Kuwait. I was pretty keen on this visit as it provided me an opportunity to know more about the middle east countries. In fact the visit enabled me to know more than expected. I would like to share my thoughts over here.

Kuwait is an oil rich country. The country has world’s 5th largest oil reserves which contribute close to 80% to the government revenue. They have the highest Human development index in the Arab world (31st in the world, India has a rank of 134). The per capita income is US$60,800 (Rs 28 lakhs appr) making it the 5th richest country in the world. It has a population of 30 lakhs and 60-70% population comprises of expatriates from Asia (Indian population in Kuwait is 6 lakh), other Arab countries and Palestinians.

Any gulf country whether its UAE, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait have all excellent infrastructure in terms of 6 to 8 lane roads, huge buildings, uninterrupted power supply, very good per capita income and Kuwait is no exception. We met few Indians who have worked the hard way to set up industries over here and have employed many Indians. You can find lots of Asians (Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Malaysians) working across different levels. But majority of them are employed by locals here for jobs which include house maids, hotel waiters, chefs, cleaners, drivers. At a lower level an employee earns some 100 KD(Kuwaiti Dinar) per month which is roughly equivalent to 16000Rs in India (1KD= 160Rs). A mid level employee earns 200-400 KD (32000 – 60000Rs). Majority of them work here for 9 to 10 months an year and take leave for few months to return to their country and come back. Very few come with their family (low and midlevel employees) to Kuwait as the cost of living is very high over here. I just went through a newspaper and got to know that a MRI scan will cost some 30000Rs which is exorbitantly high.

The country for a population of 30 lak has 10 lak vehicles. You can hardly find any bikes. Infact I just found 4 two wheelers during my stay here. Cars and SUVs dominate the roads. All are high end vehicles. Sometimes I wonder how companies like GM or Chrysler can file for bankruptcy given the number of high end cars in Gulf :-)

Kuwaitis speak Arabic. Islamic laws are in place but it is not certainly as rigid as UAE. People here say the country is liberal next only to Dubai. Kuwait gave permission for women to vote a few years back and last year a few women got elected to Parliament. On the Valentine ‘s day I read an article in a local daily conveying that its not wrong to celebrate Valentine’s day. That’s a good progress. Alcohol is banned in Kuwait.

Kuwait was completely annexed by Saddam led Iraqi forces in 1990. They also set most of the oil wells on fire before US intervened to help Kuwait. I was discussing the issue with one of the locals here and he made an interesting comparision between Kuwait and Iraq. Both are oil rich countries. When it comes to sharing of revenues with the common man Kuwait is different from Iraq. Saddam never gave it back to his citizens where as Kuwait did. Saddam had a 1 million army for a population of 3 crore which is very huge (Indians for a population of 100 plus crores have 1.5 million people serving in navy, army and air force). He gave an account on the poverty in Iraq when he said that during the invasion of Kuwait a soldier of Iraq barged into a shopping mall and was struggling to open a perfume bottle. At the end he broke the bottle and smeared it all over his body. It might be an isolated incident but it did convey a silent message.

Coming to the cost of living factor, a tea / coffee at a decent hotel cost 50 – 60 Rs. Lunch ranges from 200 Rs to 1000Rs. Phone calls are costly as well. Per minute call to India is around 35Rs. Hotels don’t serve water. We need to purchase water every time.:-)There are good number of Indian restaurants which are good and economical as well.

We visited Kuwait Towers which is a symbol of hope for the people of this region. It is stunning. One can have a spectacular view of the entire city from the top of the tower. The city sleeps late and the shopping malls will be opened till midnight.

These are my few observations on Kuwait. Thanks for the patient reading..

A poetic venture from my friend Raghavan...

Wish you all a prosperous and happy new year 2010...

Let me introduce my friend Raghavan who has agreed to present his first poetic venture on my blog. He works in IBM Bangalore and is an avid reader of Kannada books. I request all of you to comment on his new adventure into the world of creative words. The meaning of the poem is also mentioned at the end by the poet:-).

ಶರತ್ ಋತುವಿನ ಶಾರ್ವರಿಯಲಿ
ತುಂಬಿ ಬಂದ ಬೆಳದಿಂಗಲಿನಲಿ
ನಾಚಿ ಅಡಗಿದವು ತಾರೆಗಳು ಬಾಂದಲದಲಿ

ಬಂದು ನಿಂತಲು ಏನ್ನಾಕೆ ಅಂಗಳದಲಿ
ಒರಸುತ ಮುಖವ ಸೆರಗಿನಲಿ
ನಾಚಿ ಒಡಿದಳು ಶಶಿ ಮೊಡದ ಮರೆಯಲಿ

ಇಂತಿರಲು ಬೀಸಿತು ಮಂದ ಮಾರತುವೂ
ಅದಕೆ ಅಳುಗಿತು ಅವಳ ಕಿವಿ ಓಲೆಗಳು
ಅನಿಸಿತೆನಗೆ ಅದು ತಾರೆಗಳು ಪಿಸುಗುಟ್ಟಿದವು
" ಕಲಿಸಿದೆ ಒಳ್ಳೆ ಪಾಠವ ಇಂದುಮತಿಯಲಿ"
- ರಾಘವನ್

In first stanza am describing a full moon night, and saying that stars are missing as they were enviously ashamed of beauty of the full moon.
Here comes my wife to the garden in front of my house, seeing this the moon hides itself among the clouds looking at her grace.
There comes a breeze, on which the ear rings of hers ruffle,and it seemed to me as star's came and whispered "thanks for teaching a good lesson to her(moon) who was wandering with pride."

sharath ruthu <- Intial winter season.( roughly oct-nov), in english we have only 4 seasons but in india we divide it as six season.
sharvari <- Night
manda maruthu <- Breeze
indhumathe <- Moon lit night, am using it as just moon

A good beginning from Raghavan. I wish him all the best for this venture and hope to see many more poems from him in the coming days... All the best..

Prioritizing our life .... A nice internet forward...

This is an internet forward which i received from Kiran Bhat and i thought let me have it on my blog as i felt it conveys a powerful message in a effective way.

Yesterday, I was driving, and the FM radio went off for few seconds. I thought, I should have an iPod. Then suddenly I realized that I have not used my iPod in last 6 months. And then… more things, Handy cam in last 2 years, Digital Camera in last 2 months, DVD player in last 1 month and many more. Now I can say that I bought that Handy cam just out of impulse, I have used it twice only in last 4 years.

So, whats wrong and where? When I look at myself or my friends I can see it everywhere. We are not happy with what we have but all are stressed and not happy for the things we don’t have. You have a Santro, but you want City… You have a City, but you want Skoda. Just after buying a new phone, we need another one. Better laptop, bigger TV, faster car, bigger house, more money… .I mean, these examples are endless. The point is, does it actually worth? Do we ever think if we actually need those things before we want them?

After this, I was forced to think what I need and what I don’t. May be I didn’t need this Handy cam or the iPod or that DVD player. When I see my father back at home. He has a simple BPL color tv, he doesn’t need 32″ Sony LCD wall mount. He has a cellphone worth Rs 2,500. Whenever I ask him to change the phone, he always says… “Its a phone, I need this just for calls.” And believe me; he is much happier in life than me with those limited resources and simple gadgets. The very basic reason why he is happy with so little is that he doesn’t want things in life to make it luxurious, but he wants only those things, which are making his life easier. It’s a very fine line between these two, but after looking my father’s life style closely, I got the point. He needs a cell phone but not the iPhone. He needs a TV but not the 32″ plasma. He needs a car but not an expensive one.

Initially I had lot of questions.

I am earning good, still I am not happy…why?

I have all luxuries, still I am stressed.... why?

I had a great weekend, still I am feeling tired.... why?

I met lot of people, I thought over it again and again, I still don’t know if I got the answers, but certainly figured out few things. I realize that one thing which is keeping me stressed is the “stay connected” syndrome. I realized that, at home also I am logged in on messengers, checking mails, using social networks, and on the top of that, the windows mobile is not letting me disconnected. On the weekend itself, trying to avoid unwanted calls… and that is keeping my mind always full of stress. I realized that I am spending far lesser money than what I earn, even then I am always worried about money and more money. I realized that I am saving enough money I would ever need, whenever needed. Still I am stressed about job and salary and spends.


May be, many people will call this approach “not progressive attitude“, but I want my life back. Ultimately it’s a single life, a day gone is a day gone. I believe if I am not happy tonight, I’ll never be happy tomorrow morning. I finally realized that meeting friends, spending quality time with your loved one’s; spending time with yourself is the most important thing. If on Sunday you are alone and you don’t have anybody to talk with, then all that luxuries life, all that money is wasted. May be cutting down your requirements, re-calculating your future goal in the light of today’s happiness is a worthwhile thing to do. I believe putting your happiness ahead of money is the choice we need to make.


I think, a lot can be said and done but what we need the most is re-evaluation of the value of happiness and time we are giving to our life and people associate with it.

Right to Information Act

Right to information Act is a landmark legislation passed by our parliament. In this article i would like to highlight the positive changes which has taken place after the enactment of this act and how ordinary citizens can effectively employ this in our crusade to fight against corruption. The act forces the government to behave in a transparent way making it accountable. We all pay taxes and its our right to know to what extent that money is being effectively utilised. Rajeev Gandhi had made a observation that only 15 paisa out of a rupee of the government money reaches the intended beneficiary. I regret to say that we have reached a stage where some form of corruption is acceptable to many to get the task done. This is a dangerous proposition and its implications in the long run is going to hurt our country pretty badly from all aspects.

Lets get started with a brief introduction on what RTI is all about. The information has been gathered from http://www.righttoinformation.org/faqs.asp

What is RTI ?

Right to Information Act 2005 empowers every citizen to
Ask any questions from the Government or seek any information
Take copies of any government documents
Inspect any government documents.
Inspect any Government works
Take samples of materials of any Government work.

Before i tell you how and where to submit the application and the intricacies of the process i would like to highlight its importance by citing how ordinary citizens have effectively utilized this act. NDTV recently gave away RTI awards in association with ONGC and all the examples cited here are taken from their website http://rti.ndtv.com

1. Gogoi, who is one of the best-known social activists of Assam, started an RTI investigation in March 2006, followed by a social audit, that led to the expose of a Rs 1.25 crore scam in Sampoornai Gram Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) and Rs 60 lakh scam in Indira Awas Yojana in Gamariguri block of Golaghat district.

2. RAvindra Singh: For his effort to use and encourage others to use RTI Act to expose illegalities committed by Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (CGPSC) in selecting candidates for state civil services through exams conducted in 2003, 2005, and 2008.

3. An RTI activist, Dev Ashish Bhattacharya has filed over 100 RTIs so far on various issues. One of his noteworthy applications that had a large scale impact was the one filed with the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking information on foodgrain damage in FCI godowns.

4. Rajesh Bissa: For using RTI Act, to reveal large-scale irregularities and corruption in selection of a private partner for Rs 2500 crore road project and award of other large contracts by Chhattisgarh government.

5. Prashnath Kumar Dubey : For using RTI and the Media together to make child malnutrition one of the most important social, political and electoral issues in Madhya Pradesh.

6. Bharatsinh R. JhalaJhala conducted an RTI investigation to show that more farmers in Gujarat had been committing suicides than what the state government was prepared to admit, thus bringing to light economic distress of small farmers.

7. Ramesh Kumar Verma: For using RTI to expose doctors with fake degrees and also the scandal that facilitated their existence.

These are just instances where the RTI act has been instrumental in exposing corruption and bringing the culprits to books. It has also made the governments to take note of important issues and take quick action for the same.

Having highlighted the importance through case studies, I will come back to the intricacies of filing an application and the process involved.

Who will give me information?

One or more existing officers in every Government Department have been designated as Public Information Officers (PIO). These PIOs act like nodal officers. You have to file your applications with them. They are responsible for collecting information sought by you from various wings of that Department and providing that information to you. In addition, several officers have been appointed as Assistant Public Information Officers (APIOs). Their job is only to accept applications from the public and forward it to the right PIO.

Where do I submit application?

You can do that with the PIO or with APIO. In the case of all Central Government Departments, 629 post offices have been designated as APIOs. This means that you can go to any of these post offices and submit your fee and application at the RTI counter in these post offices. They will issue you a receipt and acknowledgement and it is the responsibility of that post office to deliver it to the right PIO. The list of these post offices is given at http://www.indiapost.gov.in/rtimanual16a.html


Is there any fee? How do I deposit that?

Yes, there is an application fee. For Central Government Departments, it is Rs 10. However, different states have prescribed different fee. For getting information, you have to pay Rs 2 per page of information provided for Central Government Departments. It is different for different states. Similarly, there is a fee for inspection of documents. There is no fee for first hour of inspection, but after that, you have to pay Rs. 5 for every subsequent hour or fraction thereof. This is according to Central Rules. For each state, see respective state rules.

Is there an application form for seeking information?

For Central Government Departments, there is no form. You should apply on a plain sheet of paper like an ordinary application. However, many states and some ministries and departments have prescribed formats. You should apply in these formats.

Download the application form from http://www.fixindia.org/right_to_information.php

Is there a time limit to receiving information?

Yes. If you file your application with the PIO, you must receive information within 30 days.
In case you have filed your application with Assistant PIO then information has to be made available within 35 days.
In case the matter to which the information pertains affects the life and liberty of an individual, information has to be made available in 48 hours.

There have been many good laws in this country but none of those laws worked. Why do you think this law would work?

This law is already working. This is because for the first time in the history of independent India, there is a law which casts a direct accountability on the officer for non-performance. If concerned officer does not provide information in time, a penalty of Rs 250 per day of delay can be imposed by the Information Commissioner. If the information provided is false, a penalty of a maximum of Rs 25000 can be imposed. A penalty can also be imposed for providing incomplete or for rejecting your application for malafide reasons. This fine is deducted from the officer’s personal salary.

There is lot of resistance from the bureaucracy to curtail the freedom and the power this RTI act gives to ordinary citizens. Tonnes of RTI activists are working to create awareness about this act amongst common man.

For me RTI is a right tool to expose corruption and it gives power to common man. I read in a daily the other day that RTI should be made as part of school curriculum to create awareness. I completely agree with the gentleman who made this proposal.

Next time if you feel something is going wrong with a government scheme or you feel that a recently constructed road with huge money is in pretty bad shape then its time to use RTI act and expose the corrupt practices.

Vidarbha farmers suicide..

Am back to discuss the state of Indian Agriculture and this time i focus on the much debated Vidarbha farmers suicide which made the Prime Minister to intervene and direct the then Maharashtra government to take up the matter on priority. The incident also forced the then Finance Minister Chidambaram to declare a loan waiver scheme for farmers.

Again i borrow extensively from the trusted words of P Sainath, a journalist of repute on this.

It dates back to 2006 were the six districts of Vidarbha, suicides were the order of the day. Between 2005 June to 2006 June there were 600 deaths.

The Prime Minister announced that he will be touring Vidarbha and then the Maharashtra government began to act. Officials were sent to all parts. A top bureaucrat from Mumbai in Nagpur ordered that suicides 'must stop' by the month-end. How simple that sounds. And if it is, why did they not turn off the tap earlier? Some officials, ordered out into the villages, have phoned journalists to ask: "Where should we go?" Ministers' are visiting places they've never heard of or seen in years. The Prime Minister announced Rs 3750 crore relief package, and since then over 90 suicides have were reported in a single month.

Mr Sharad Pawar, it seems, is the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) chief first and union agriculture minister later. In any case, cricket is more profitable than agriculture. Mr Pawar has missed cabinet meetings on agricultural issues at a time when farm sector crisis was that big but he did make the time to attend meetings on cricket at Doha and Qatar and elsewhere.

The then Chief minister Deshmukh and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar who is from the state had not even visited a single suicide-affected family or village till they were forced to accompany the PM in June 06. That itself shows how serious the state government and state leaders perceived the situation to be, and it wasn't as if there were no reports. The media was writing about it, local politicians were bringing it up, sections of the bureaucracy knew what was happening. There was simply no response.

Take the minimum support price (MSP). This Congress-NCP came to power in October 2004 on the promise that it would restore the MSP of cotton to Rs 2700 per quintal. Then, within a year, the government drops the MSP to Rs 1700 per quintal. Just restoring it to the pre-2005 level would have saved lives this year. Then, they withdrew the advance bonus of Rs 500 per quintal which would have cost the government Rs 1100 crore a year. Its a decision which costs many a farmers lives. On top of it, the chief minister keeps saying suicides have nothing to do with prices.

Lets look at the way the government fudged suicide figures. Initially, government officials told the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that only 141 farmers had committed suicide between 2001 and 2004, then they told the Bombay High Court that 524 had committed suicide in the four-year period, in October 2005 they told the NCF that the figure was 309 only for Yavatmal. Two months later, the government told the state assembly that 1041 farmer suicides had been recorded in the period. Then, of course, the PM was given a figure of 1600 plus in six districts, of which 574 had been recorded in the last one year, prior to his visit.

This is almost the same pattern which gets repeated in many states and Vidarbha was just the tip of the iceberg.

Every suicide has a multiplicity of causes, the farmer has been harassed for years in a row, finds himself in a debt trap where he has to take private credit to pay off earlier credit, he is not eligible for fresh bank credit because banks term him a defaulter, he owes money to the moneylender, the seed agent, the pesticide agent, a string of local sahukars from whom he has taken money for medical emergencies or weddings and so on. In such circumstances, any trigger is enough to take the extreme last step: it could a be fight with his wife, or it could be another insult from the moneylender or someone forcibly taking over his land/house for defaulting. What's completely appalling is that local officials record various silly reasons for suicides and the family doesn't become eligible for state compensation, if and when it's given. In Vidarbha, officials who had made excuses for not giving compensation last many months were running around on the eve of PM's visit to hand over the cheques, without any verification.

Many farmers who committed suicide were experienced farmers, who had been at it for years together yet saw no light at the end of the tunnel. They were not novices but had at least 15-20 years of experience of withstanding drought, inhospitable conditions. Many of them had a good elementary education, they had passed Class Xth at least.

Then, there's the new emerging sahukar in these villages. He used to be the agricultural extension officer, now he's the technical expert, he's a lender, also doubles up as agent for seed companies like Monsanto or pesticide companies. He makes money in three ways - he sells seeds and pesticides at higher rates, he charges an usurious two and a half per cent per hundred or 30 per cent per annum on credit extended to the farmer, he also claims the first right on produce and gives low prices to the farmer but sells at higher prices in the market.

Let us focus on the policies of the government. Monsanto made easy money on royalty and technology costs while the Indian farmer was killing himself over the high seed prices. The local seeds were Rs 7 a kilo in 1991, the commercial varieties cost Rs 80-100 per kilo even ten years back. Monsanto seeds cost nearly Rs 3800 a kilo, now they cost about half. Similarly, all input prices were allowed to explode…a DAP bag cost Rs 100 in 1991, it now costs between Rs 480 and Rs 500. Water and electricity costs exploded. Farmers were told that Bt seed would not attract bollworm and they would save on pesticides, but in reality they had to buy pesticides even for the Bt seed and these pesticides cost more than the usual varieties they had used. Then, governments go around depressing output prices and withdrawing advance bonus.

While the US protects its 20,000 cotton growers with subsidies of $4.7 billion in 2004-05, our governments take away support prices and bonuses. The value of crop that year in the US was $3.9 billion. The subsidies meant cheaper cotton in the international market; it destroyed cotton farmers from Vidarbha to West Africa.

Farmer suicides is a matter of shame for our country and should be a matter of top priority for our government. I fully support the loan waiver scheme for the distress farmers provided it reaches the intended beneficiaries. The FM in terms of Stimulus Package to boost sagging economy dolls out huge subsidies to corporate world and then when the same is done for farmers, many raise a great hue and cry which is deploring to say the least. If the Government doesn't pull up its socks now, from being a self sufficient country in producing food grains and cereals we will end up depending on importers for our survival.