Sahara One's Commitment to Social Awareness

"Sahara One" is coming up with a new show - "GANGA KI DHEEJ", highlighting the plight of young unmarried girls in rural West Bengal. The show is set in a village called Kaliganj and has the distinction of hosting Mr. Kabir Bedi for the very first time on Indian Television. Kya Koi Pratha Kisi Ladki Ki Pavitrata ka Pramaan Ban Sakti Hai?

"SHORR" is a story of a mute woman and her struggle against the anachronistic customs and rituals practiced by the society. The story higlights indifferential and adverse treatment and social abondonment faced by a widow and her fight for self-realisation and dignified living.

"BITTO" is set against the backdrop of social discrimination in a village in Uttar Pradesh. It depicts the depradating tyranny and subjugation of lower castes by the higher castes.


For more information log on to : http://www.sahara-one.com/

The Deal that Passed the Bill

It is very interesting to notice the way events have shapped in the last few days. The Congress-led UPA government was not very certain about the safe passage of the Nuclear Civil Liability Bill in the Parliament. BJP support was a must. What do we do then?
In steps Pranab Mukherji, the crisis man for the Congress. He calls for a breakfast meeting. The Opposition led by BJP, which had been stalling the proceedings in the Lok Sabha and causing huge losses to the ex-chequer, very ironically attends the breakfast meeting. And the deal is struck. The civil no-fault liability is increased from Rs. 500 Crore to Rs. 1500 Crore. The BJP demand of not letting private players in is also acceeded to by the Congress. WHAT MORE DOES THE BJP WANT? NATIONAL INTERESTS ARE PROTECTED. And now the Congress is sure of safe passage of the Bill.
Now, on the other hand, Sohrabuddin Ghost has been haunting the BJP for quite some time. And the CBI steps up its effort. CBI gets Amit Shah Arrested and manages to keep him in custody for quite some time. Just when it was looking as if the the CBI was gaining substantial ground in implicating the accused, comes a rude set back..
CHARGES AGAINST MODI DROPPED FOR LACK OF EVIDENCE and ONE PRIME WITNESS IN AMIT SHAH CASE TRUNS HOSTILE.
I wonder what went wrong with the CBI or what went right with the BJP overnight. . .

Miscellany-at-Work

Today happens to be the day I was born twenty four years back. And as I pondered, over the last twenty and four years of my life, a very pertinent question crossed my head. What does it take to make ones life truly fulfilling?

          In his classic work Julius Caesar, Shakespeare talking about Brutus as distinct from all the conspirators conspiring to kill Caesar, attributes these lines to Brutus:

          "His life was gentle, and the elements
           So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
          And say to all the world, 'This was a man!' "

          Well Shakespeare was not the first one to use the Expression “This was a Man” to describe a virtuous life.

Drayton must have been in an emphatic mood when he wrote the following lines which appeared in his 1598 Book “The Baron’s War”:

“He was a Man (then boldly dare to say),

In whose rich soul the virtues well did suit,

In whom so mix’d the elements all lay,

That none to one could sovereignty impute,

As all did govern, so did all obey,

He of a temper was so absolute,

As that it seem’d, when nature him began,

She meant to show all that might be in a Man”

These great qualities of head and heart, of valor and gentleness all in one seem to have been lost. These great qualities which have always seen the ascent of man. Jacob Bronowski in the last chapter of his masterly book “The Ascent of Man”, brings out a beautiful message when he says,

“The personal commitment of man to his skill,

the intellectual commitment, and

the emotional commitment,

working together as one,

has made the Ascent of Man”

          A good life is very difficult to measure. Even the most famous, the richest, the most successful artistes, musicians, painters, the statesmen, authors, all who have earned recognition in their respective fields do not find themselves immune from the ordinary frailties of human life. Perfection eludes us and keeps doing so consistently. Perfection is always a mirage, which can only be chased but can never be captured.

          Or is a life most fulfilled if it conforms to what Milton says in extraordinary book “The Paradise Lost”, if someone stays,

          “Unmoved, unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,

           His promises he kept, his love, his zeal,

           Nor number nor example with him wrought

 To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind.”

Is such a life so chaste and austere, so balanced and sober is a life truly fulfilled. The search for an answer, I believe, will always remain a pursuit. As Lord Cranworth once remarked, “There is no possibility of mistaking midnight for noon, but at what precise moment twilight becomes darkness is difficult to determine”

  

Walk in the Rain, Don't Just Get wet

If there is a single accident of birth that I have been proud of (apart from having such lovely parents), then it is the blessing of being born and brought up in as good and picturesque a place as Goa. And come rainy season and I often begin pining and my eyes grow thirsty to see tiny raindrops come down and wash the Goan Landscape and drape it with a beautiful and fresh layer of green, my nose longs to smell the fragrance of the earth when the first drops of rain trickle down its surface, my body yearns to get soaked in the divine showers.

For the last two years Bombay (what’s in the name, Roses by any name would still smell the same) has been my abode. Bombay is a strange city. But the most apt description would be that of Suketu Mehta. He calls it the “Maximum City”. I realized very soon that there are more reasons to love the city than there are to hate it. And one reason, and a big one, has to be the rains on the Marine Drive.

I am eagerly awaiting the rains this time. The ocean kissing the shores of Marine Drive swells up in its pristine glory. The waves are fast and furious. The noisy cars and the dust and heat and all that we hate the city for, suddenly seems to go into oblivion. I can sit for hours together on the Marine Drive in the rains and experience the bliss of solitude. But this time around, I do have someone special with me who will join me on the Marine Drive. But that doesn’t matter; the two of us can be on the drive lost in OUR solitude.

       “What is this Life, if full of care,

        We have No time to Stand and Stare” – W. H. Davies

In fact, it’s not just the rains but every season has its own charm and mood. As John Ruskin said “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”

It’s still a few more days for the rains to reach Bombay but its worth the wait. . .

SHOW ME THE MONEY

THE Swiss Banks have unanimously agreed to tax the money kept deposited with them by Indians and release the proceeds to the Indian Revenue Authorities. This move is being proposed as an alternative to the disclosure of details of Indians holding Swiss Bank Accounts and the enormous amount of Money lying therein. For years now, the Global Community has been mounting pressure upon the Swiss Government to dilute its disclosure policies in order to allow governments all over the world track down this fugitive money.

It is very ridiculously surprising how the US Government succeeds in getting access to close to 5000 Swiss Bank Accounts held by US Citizens, while India still does not manage to move the Singapore administration to come to its aid, despite estimates that Indian Citizens have the highest mount of Black Money stored up with the Swiss Banks. The Swiss Banks have been making Disclosure to the US Government. The banks have further paid a huge penalty of about 750 million dollars. These disclosures come in the wake of stern action by the U.S. Government which threatened to arrest Swiss Officials in US if Disclosures are not made. The US has agreed that further arrest and prosecution of its officers will be deferred during such time that the Bank is continuing its disclosures.

It is interesting to highlight the case of Mr. Hasan Ali Khan, a stud-farm owner from Pune. As on 8th December, 2006, he had a credit of more than eight billion US dollars equivalent to about Rupees 36000 crores, in the UBS bank, Zurich. He has been a stupendous defaulter in paying Income-tax to the Indian Authorities. Investigations which began in the year 2007 have disclosed that his account started with an initial deposit of US dollars 1.5 million in the year 1982. He was introduced to the UBS Bank by the notorious Adnan Khashoggi, a friend of an equally notorious Chandraswamy. Initial deposit was then transferred to Zurich, where by 1997 it had grown to 6.5 billion US dollars. In the next four months it rose to a little more than 8 billion dollars. Hasan Ali Khan was thus making deposits in this account of approximately 3500 crores a year. His last deposit in the bank is expressly marked with the legend “Arms sale”.

What is astonishing that this influential offender has never been arrested. It speaks volumes of his powerful connections. There is also reason to believe that he has other conspirators, two of them are Tapurias of Calcutta. The case was being treated as a simple case of tax evasion but in 2007, fortunately for the Enforcement authorities asked for assistance from the Swiss under the Mutual Assistance arrangement existing between the two countries. The Swiss complained that the Indian authorities had enclosed with their request some forged documents and also wanted to know whether the Indian investigation was into an offence of money laundering. An affirmative answer from would have brought about the necessary disclosure of persons involved in this stupendous fiscal scam. Since April, 2007 till today the Indian Government has not responded to the Swiss query. It should be plain to every one that at the highest level this investigation is sought to be frustrated because the persons involved are too powerful and the disclosure of their names would shake up the government and destroy its credibility.

How does the government propose to justify this delay and its slack and half-hearted approach in getting access to the huge quantum of national wealth locked up in safe heavens like the Swiss Banks? Don’t the tax payers have a right to be given an explanation? There are so many deserving and industrious youngsters and poor senior salaried individuals who continue to get dejected and burdened by the heavy tax rates while the Hasan Ali Khan’s continue to make hay?

It is estimated that there is as much as about 1500 billion US dollars which are locked up in these banks. This amount, if retrieved, would wipe out our national debt, domestic and foreign and allow this country to have tax free budgets for many years. What stops the Indian Authorities from anointing itself with this great acclaim?

Nani Palkhivala aptly quipped that “No policy can ever fail, if wisely conceived and honestly implemented.” We are still waiting for one such policy on Black Money.

Surrogacy- Need for Regulation

“Better late than Never”, they say. The completion of the draft “Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, 2010” by the 12-member committee headed by Dr. P. M. Bhargava under the Indian Council of Medical Research comes as welcome respite. If this Bill is passed by the Indian Parliament and if it goes on to become a Law, it will be the first of its kind in India to regulate Assisted Reproductive Technology. Although Indian Council of Medical Research (IMCR) had framed guidelines, these guidelines lacked the necessary force and were silent on many important aspects.

There is a humungous demand for surrogate mothers in India. There are various reasons for such demand. The main reasons being the fact that Surrogates can be found at almost 1/4th the price which surrogates in other countries charge and secondly, that Assisted Reproductive Technology sector in India is still unregulated. Some of the recent events have highlighted the importance of a legislation to govern Assisted Reproductive Technology sector.

Israeli Gay Father Dan Goldberg was stranded in Mumbai for three months with his twin babies born of a surrogate Indian mother after the Israeli Interior Ministry refused to grant Passport and Israeli Citizenship for his twin babies. Mr. Dan Goldberg finally received a positive response from the Interior Ministry of Israel which granted Passports to his twin babies to return home. Earlier a family Court in Israel had disallowed paternity tests from being conducted to ascertain the fatherhood of Mr. Dan Goldberg. However, the paternity test which was subsequently performed after intense diplomatic pressure established fatherhood of Mr. Dan Goldberg.

In another episode, a German couple Jan Balaz and Susan Anna Lohlad, after two years of legal battle, were finally allowed to take their surrogate sons Nicholas and Leonard, born to Indian Surrogate Mother, back home, after the German Authorities granted Visas to the babies. Earlier German Authorities had refused citizenship to the babies on the ground that the German Laws did not recognize Surrogacy. The babies were born in 2008 and were without a citizenship for two years.

In India Gay Marriages are still not legal. As on today, Gay and Lesbian relationships have only been decriminalized. However they have not been legalized, as under the present laws the Definition of Couple is “persons living together and having sexual relation that is legal in India. Gay and Lesbian Couples, both Indian and Foreign cannot have children born with the help of Indian Surrogate Mother, till gay and lesbian relationships are legalized in India.

The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, 2010, contemplates that the Foreigners coming to India to rent a Womb will have to produce two documents- (a) Confirming that the country of their residence recognizes Surrogacy as Legal, and (b) undertaking that the country will give citizenship to children born of such surrogacy. A Local Guardian will have to be appointed for the Surrogate Mother. If the Parents fail to take delivery of the Children within one month of their birth, then the Surrogate mother will be legally obliged to hand over the child to any adoption agency. In such cases the baby will get Indian Citizenship.

Many childless couples who avail the services of a Surrogate Mother sign a contract with the surrogate mother. But even then, the sanctity of such a contract remains doubtful. So do the rights of the Surrogate mother over the baby she carries.

Issues like death of Surrogate Mother during pregnancy remains unclear. And, the real problem arises after the birth of the baby. In the absence of any clear laws on the issue, foreigners are unable to get legal assistance when it comes to taking their child back to their home country.

With the completion of the draft “Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill, 2010”, it is hoped that Surrogacy will be addressed at last.

THE EARTH HOUR - 27th March, 2010 - Let it be a new beginning

This Weeks “The Economist” features an Opinion on ‘Climate Science’ and its uncertainties. We cannot discount the size of the catastrophe that awaits us. However, the uncertainties of the reports that have been coming from various agencies employed with the task of analyzing and predicting the trends of climate change coupled with the fact that the World is going through or just about recovering from a deep recession has given the governments around the globe, some or the other reason to play down the issue or to buy some time.
I agree with the author of the opinion, that rather than seeking certainty in knowing where we all are headed, we would do much better if we were to zero down on some kind of an action plan which is wisely conceived and honestly implemented। The reason being, the mere uncertainty of these reports and studies, is reason enough for us to prepare ourselves and guard against any impending catastrophes। It does not harm us in any way to make a beginning towards improving the Climate and lowering those much hyped Carbon Level.
Please engage into some sort of action in every way you can. And do plant a tree for each year you live. That’s our only way out. The greener our planet is the better equipped we are to face the gigantic task that lies ahead. I know I am being rhetorical, but lets conserve energy in every possible way and be sensitive towards the needs of nature if we are to expect the nature to be sensitive to our needs.
Lets not wait for the Government or the Administration to take up this task. The Copenhagen Conference failed. And the administrative efforts are always going to remain on paper. It might take a good three of four decades for the Leaders and Parliamentarians to get convinced of the gravity of the Catastrophe. I know each one of you is far better equipped to decide how and when you are going to act. 27th March, 2010, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm is going to be the Earth Hour. During this One Hour the major cities in India are going to plunge into darkness. All the major establishments have also joined in. They are going to turn off all electrical devices and lights to show their solidarity.
This year many iconic monuments have also joined in. These include Eiffel Tower, Paris, Grand Palace, Bangkok, Sky Tower, Auckland, Red Fort, Delhi, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy, Opera House, Sydney, etc. Last year’s Earth Hour saved substantial quantum of energy.
The Earth Hour is a Symbolic gesture aimed at making people realize and think. But the task which is sought to be achieved requires sustained efforts by as many people as there can be.
I request all of you to join in and also to make an Informed Choice- A Choice between Creation and Destruction. “The Price of Discipline is much less than the Pain of Regret”.

THERE IS NOT TO REASON WHY, THERE IS BUT TO DO OR DIE

History is a fitting testimony to the fact that “Freedom” if anything is Evanescent. And “eternal vigilance” is the price of ensuring that we do not loose this freedom. Freedom is not something we inherit in our bloodstream. Every generation has to fight for it and cherish it. The price is not as painful as the pain of regret.

We have been growing far too cynical about the State of Affairs in India. And nowhere else is this cynicism more profound than in the minds of the most treasured asset for any nation, its Youth. Common friends, lets stand up! This attitude of indifference and callousness will only further paralyze our democracy and its institutions.
The tigers (and its our national animal) have been declining in Numbers. Some species of Tigers in Some parts of the world have already turned extinct. I cannot live to see such a thing happening in India. Let us write about it, let us ask some embarrassing questions, let us invoke the weapon of Right to Information Act, let us unsettle the administration which has been observing all this with practical impunity, let us do whatever we can, let us do something. All this may sound rhetorical. I would not have cared two hoots to write this piece but for my conviction in the youth of this country.
With 240 million people still living Below the poverty line, India houses the second highest number of AIDS patients (second only to South Africa), we have the largest number of public servants but the lowest quantum of public service, we have the fastest growing population and as I complete this piece another 4000-5000 people would be added to the population, we have 15% of the world population but just 1.5% of the worlds income, the best contraceptive to control population is education and we still have 37% illiterate citizenry, we keep tackling fifty year old problems with five year plans, staffed by two year officials with one year appropriation, fondly hoping that the laws of economics will be suspended because we are Indians; we have still not understood how fundamental it is to invest in human resources.
Sixty years of parliamentary democracy has only tellingly typified that glib promises and lofty electioneering can convince the electorate more than merit and intellect. A striking example could be Nani Palkhivala loosing a parliamentary seat to a candidate not even close to the degree of vision, caliber, intellect and character Palkhivala possessed. The result was that our parliament was deprived of services of a nation builder.
That brings us to the fact that no other office in a democracy is as important as the office of a citizen. Montesquieu, the French political scientist, who gave us the theory of separation of powers, went to the extent of saying that, “the tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not as dangerous as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy. 60 years after independence and still much has not changed. Why do we still spit and smoke at public places? Why do we invariably lend up spoiling the seat every time we board a bus? Why do we derive sadistic pleasure in breaking traffic rules? Why, inspite of being let down a hundred times, we still elect the same ‘quality starved’ people to rule us? Why do we still encroach upon property which is not ours? Why do we still try to find ways and means to avoid any tax? The answer to these questions is but simple. Absence of Fidelity towards our nation. In more simplistic terms absence of fidelity towards our fellow citizens.
Nani Palkhivala in his book “We the People”, has inscribed the following dedication. . .
To my country men,
Who gave unto themselves the constitution but not the ability to keep it,
Who inherited a resplendent heritage, but not the wisdom to cherish it,
Who suffer and endure in patience without the perception of their potential.

Democracy as we know, is not synonymous with liberty. It is not necessary that in every democratic nation liberty and freedom should thrive as a sine qua non. It is not necessary. In fact the happiest periods which civilized man has seen have been under benign and enlightened rulers not elected on the basis of Adult Franchise. Gibbon said that the happiest period of European History was the Age of Antonines which stated with Emperor Nerva who came to power in 96 A.D. and ended with the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD. That was the age when Pax romana brooded over the earth. In that era, the crown was not inherited, but the king would adopt as his son, the wisest and the most dedicated man he would find in his Kingdom and nominate and train him as successor to the throne. Thus monarchy went by merit. Marcus Aurelius failed to nominate his successor and his son who came after him ended the age of happiness. It is doubted whether democratic India will ever know the happiness which people enjoyed under great rulers like Emperor Ashoka or King Janaka.
But despite its shortcomings democracy still continues to be the least unsatisfactory of all other forms of government. We would thus be advised to count our blessings in a democracy rather than be frustrated by its distressingly dark side. . . As someone said,
“Though outwardly a gloomy shroud,
The inside half of every cloud
Is bright and shining,
I therefore turn my clouds about
And always wear them inside out
To show the lining.”
Today, the country finds itself in state of moral vacuum. Bold surgery is needed to treat the diseased heart of a nation which was once great.
We have survived last 60 and there is no reason why we cannot duplicate and triplicate that figure. What makes India survive is the way we are brought up from our childhood. The moral force we get from spirituality, from the Mahabharata and Ramayana, from biblical injunctions and quaranic couplets. . . Things which keep us united amidst disunity are surprisingly our cricket, our films, our markets and our democratic plural ethos resonating in the constitution. What we need is stability without stagnation and growth without a loss of moral values.
Let No problem, no catastrophe be big to break the spirit of India. And let that Spirit be seen and be transformed into some kind of action. Lord Byron couldn’t have been more appropriate when he said,
“A Thousand years scarce serves to form a State,
An Hour may lay it in dust”

Don’t Worry, You'll Get Used to . . .

This month saw me change my workplace. The switch has been recent and no, this piece is not a comparative analysis of one workplace with the other. It's time a twenty three year old man (at which age the society deems sensibility, logic & maturity in your choice of a career but reacts aghast at choice of your life partner) appreciates the fact that workplaces differ and complaining, whining and pining makes no sense. And like all stereotype twenty three year olds I have accepted this ultimate reality and carried on with my life.
Well, since the last few days I have been interrogated with one question and thereafter presented with one piece of advise by every person who has been privy to my changing my work place. The question is the customary, "How do you find the New place", to which my typical answer is, "its different from the last one". As soon as I have answered that question quick follows the piece of Advise, "Don't worry, in due time You will get used to it" accompanied by a comforting smile.
While I am thankful to all those who made me compose myself I must admit that the first few times I did not even make a mental note of the advise. But as I kept hearing the same thing from every single person, I gave it more reflection than I believed it deserved. And the more I reflected upon it the more I realized that these words spring out from the Societal propensity to abhor moving out of comfort zones and to do things repeatedly hoping that someday we would feel comfortable doing them just because we have been doing them over a period of time.
Is this not what most of us make of their lives? Make a career decision at the age of eighteen or nineteen or even earlier and then spend a lifetime trying to get used to the decision, choosing a life-partner and trying to get used to spend a lifetime with her/him, and then pass on the 'getting used to' philosophy to our kids. When shall we all begin loving things that we do and not taking them for granted? When shall we venture out to do things because we love doing them? When will someone ask me if I am loving my new workplace or my new city or my new profession?
After all the one who said, "Blessed is the man who has found his work in play, let him ask for no other blessedness" was not entirely wrong. In fact he was very careful to say "his Work". Mark Twain said "What work I have done I have done because it has been play. If it had been work I shouldn't have done it. Who was it who said, "Blessed is the man who has found his work"? Whoever it was he had the right idea in his mind. Mark you, he says his work--not somebody else's work. The work that is really a man's own work is play and not work at all. Cursed is the man who has found some other man's work and cannot lose it. When we talk about the great workers of the world we really mean the great players of the world. The fellows who groan and sweat under the weary load of toil that they bear never can hope to do anything great. How can they when their souls are in a ferment of revolt against the employment of their hands and brains? The product of slavery, intellectual or physical, can never be great."
I don’t think the one who loves his work will ever do it to get used to doing it. All that getting used to doing does, is to suppress the desire to love your work and replace it with an involuntary drive to do it.

With a lot of Thought on Which is the one piece of Poetry I'd love to have on my Blog I ultimately zeroed down on Theodore Tilton's, "Even This Shall Pass Away". With a powerful message, this poem has always inspired me and every time I read it I seem to like it more and more. If 'Prices' are an exception to the Law of Gravitation as they never seem to come down; this Poem is undoubtedly an exception to the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility. The More you read it the more you want to read the more of it. Enjoy Reading and Re-reading!

EVEN THIS SHASLL PASS AWAY

ONCE in Persia ruled a king

Who upon his signet ring

’Graved a motto true and wise,

Which, when held before his eyes,

Gave him counsel at a glance

Fit for any change or chance

Solemn words, and these were they:

“Even this shall pass away.”

Trains of camel through the sand

Brought him gems from Samarkand;

Fleets of galleys through the seas

Brought him pearls to rival these.

Yet he counted not his gain

Treasures of the mine or main.

“Wealth may come, but not to stay;

Even this shall pass away.”

’Mid the revels of his court,

An the zenith of his sport,

When the palms of all his guests,

Burned with clapping at his jests,

He, amid his figs and wine,

Cried: “Oh, loving friends of mine,

Pleasure comes, but not to stay —

Even this shall pass away.”

Lady, fairest ever seen,

Was the bride he crowned his queen.

Pillowed on his marriage bed

Softly to his soul he said:

“Though no bridegroom ever pressed

Fairer bosom to his breast,

Mortal flesh must come to clay —

Even this shall pass away.”

Fighting in a furious field,

Once a javelin pierced his shield,

Soldiers with a loud lament

Bore him bleeding to his tent.

Groaning, from his wounded side,

“Pain is hard to bear,” he cried.

“But, with patience, day by day,

Even this shall pass away.”

Towering in the public square,

Twenty cubits in the air,

Rose his status grand in stone;

And the king, disguised, unknown,

Gazing on his sculptured name,

Asked himself: “And what is fame?

Fame is but a slow decay —

Even this shall pass away.”

Struck with palsy, oand old,

Standing at the gates of gold,

Spake him this, in dying breath:

“Life is done, and what is death?”

Then, in answer to the king,

Fell a sunbeam on the ring,

Answering, with its heavenly ray:

“Even death shall pass away.”