Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Ariel's Current Affairs: Some of my Write-up Published and unpublished Part III



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P V ARIEL'S WRITE-UPS PUBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED (Part III)

Some of my write-ups posted to different newspapers and weeklies (published and unpublished) Some could fetch some cash prizes...

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Our country, our concern...

Your special issue on Governance brought out a clear picture of the India’s democratic system. Even though our judiciary in the recent past has made some landmark judgments, it is still rolling under the red tape. We need to speed up the judicial process, especially for the downtrodden. Dr. Malay Cha1udhuri rightly points out in his column, “Fill up all the vacancies, reduce the backlog and finalise pending cases against the innumerable under trails languishing in jails for years.” Let the authorities know about these issues.
11 Feb 2007
Lost at home
This is with reference to the cover story Shame in Singur. If Tata wants to open a car shop in Kolkata, why does he need a middleman? Why can’t he approach the landowners’ directly? Let the Tatas deal with them directly and pay the suitable price for it. The Mamatas and Buddhas have made the matter worse. The Tatas’ prestigious achievement of acquiring the Corus has become the biggest for an Indian company, positioning it at the fifth place amongst the world’s top steel manufacturers. Every Indian is proud of it indeed. At the same time, the present generation of Tatas should not forget their forefathers’ legacy. Do they really need fertile and prime land for opening of a car manufacturing unit? Let the present Tata make note of the precious words of its founder, “To lead people you have to lead them with affection.”


 Our Parliament

Apropos the editorial “Who said there are no free lunches; our parliament is living example of it!” ( TSI Aug 12, 2007) It is really shocking to know the negligence of our parliamentarians. What a shame to know that many of the MPs are least bothered even to attend the sessions regularly. What is the solution to this enormous wastage of money and manpower? Or who will bell the cat to curtail this huge wastage and divert that money for the development programs of the country. Few Arindam Chaudhuris can raise these shocking points. In such situation only a massive educational drive can bring some awareness among the people of India. Media like The Sunday Indian can play an active role in that.
(Note: This write up fetched me the cash prize of Rs. 3000 for the best letter of the week)
26 August 2007

Lack of responsibilty

 
The special report ‘Sleeping at Home’ (TSI, September 17, 2007) made a serious reading. It’s ironic to see the contrary statements made by our political leaders when tragedy strikes. Union Home Minster’s statement, “... you see, India is a big country” in itself is a classic example of this. We, the common people, are caught between such statements. Is it that our intelligent system is so poor in action or is it the fear factor gripping our leaders’ minds? Whatever it may be, it is now high time that India finds a solid solution to crack the terror wing to strike yet another one to save the innocent victims.
(Note: This write up fetched me the cash prize of Rs. 3000 for the best letter of the week)
30 Sept 2007

Faith shall prevail


This is with reference to Shall the meek inherit the earth? which made for a revealing read. I refute the statement made by R.L. Francis. He said, “Sixty years ago, we converted from Hinduism and took refuge in Christ and Christianity in the hope of a secure and a caste discrimination-free existence. But it wasn’t quite the salvation that was promised.” I was wondering who promised him salvation? Jesus Christ or the Church? If a person changes his religion with expectations of material benefits, no doubt his conversion is not genuine. Christ never promised his followers a bed of roses; instead he insisted that it is full of hardships and sufferings. This spirit shows the colour of a genuine Christian. Christ himself suffered a lot, all the while he was on earth. Epistle of Peter (1 Peter 2:21-25) says, “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.” Only a real convert can take this cross. Vatican’s dealing with churches all over the world is an administrative set-up for smooth functioning. Nobody should question this, as it’s their internal matter and if anybody has a problem, they can willingly leave the system. No one can deny the Pope and the community’s service to the society. However, at the same time, Pope’s remarkes on other religions are also not tolerable.
 
Cover Page of Feb 2-8 Issue of TSI

Poverty sells too

Your Cover Story, Editorial and Musings (TSI, Feb 2-8) made a sickening reading. Along with the universal truth of “sex sells,” “poverty sells” too occupied a prominent place. As the Musings columnist pointed out, most of the best-selling and award-winning novels and literary pieces, created by Indian writers living abroad, portrayed India’s poverty in a bad shape and procured accolades and dollars; and the same has been repeated in “Slumdog Millionaire”. We can’t blame Danny Boyle for this; we ourselves are to be blamed. As Prasoon said, "we do not have a proper platform to portray the real emerging shining India in our nation," in such a situation a writer or a film producer definitely looks at where it’s available and insult India, denigrate religion, distorts reality and portray it for their profits. This is nothing but a business tactic; being done by our people. Who is to be blamed for this lack, remains a big question.

A reminder to Obama

Apropos the editorial, “Mr Obama I appreciate you……” (TSI, April 27-May3), was a good reminder to the President of America to rethink about his present going. The editorial is an eye-opener for Obama and his administrative wing. They should reconsider some of the serious issues for the betterment of their own citizens, especially the decision on the issue of outsourcing to India and other countries. As the editorial pointed out, outsourcing to other countries will be more beneficial to them than other countries. The present economic crisis, in a way, is a blessing in disguise for Asian countries. Obama and his team should realise this fact and act accordingly. Otherwise it will lead the country from bad to worse. It is high time that America should recognise the dominant role India and China can play in the global market. I appreciate Arindam Chaudhuri for telling these facts through his editorials time and again. I think TSI should post some copies of this issue to the White House and a special pack addressed to Obama.
10 May 2009

A helpful guidebook

Mamata Banerjee
As you said at the begining of your editorial "Why the communists lost Bengal and how Mamata Banerjee can easily ruin her big opportunity to destroy the CPM even now!" (TSI, June 15-21) the Left itself is responsible for its fall in West Bengal. It is the same story in Kerala. There the splinter group and the infighting among the cadres ensured their defeat. This clearly shows how naive the communists are. The Indian voter is rightly celebrated for his wisdom. He has shown time and again that no political party can take him for granted. This is a good lesson not only for the CPM, but all political parties. Your editorial is an excellent guide book that Mamata will surely enjoy going through. The communists should also read it if they want to do better next time.
5 July 09

India shining

This refers to your special investigation “100-day challenge” (TSI, June 15-21). I am well impressed by the new Congress-led-UPA government. This time Sonia Gandhi and our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seem serious in implementing welfare schemes. Talented and young politicians have been inducted in the Cabinet so that they can carry out reforms in their resptive ministries. Ministers have been told to take their jobs seriously or perish. And Arindam has also pointed out these facts in his riveting editorial, “From the success...,” India is growing economically and the Indians are envied by recession-struck developed world! This is indeed a great success.
12 July 2009

Curtail the lavish expenditure...


The editorial, “The current austerity drive is commendable, but to create the real impact, the axe has to fall on the other wasteful expenditures!” is an eye opener and a timely one. Though a bit belated one the finance ministries austerity drive is a welcome step. But the reaction of Pawar is very unfortunate. The people who send him to the top post become a problem for him now. He must realise that it’s only because of the common man’s mercy he has been enjoying all these first class facilities. Now they are become an intrusion for him. He should make note that he need to go to the same people with folded hands before the next election. It’s really surprising to note that 75% of the ministerial expenses alone is spend on their luxurious travel. This is very shocking and should cut drastically; it seems the new steps will do some great change in the economy of the country. As pointed out in the editorial the same rule should be implemented in other areas too, so that such colossal wastage of money can be curtailed. It is high time that our rulers should pick up more lessons from their western counterparts.
4 Oct 2009

Let's (not) live forever!

Apropos your cover story and editorial regarding the desire to live forever (TSI, Oct19-25) made an enthusiastic read. But, we don’t want to live forever. That desire itself will be dead against to our purpose of being created on this earth. The God’s Word (The Bible as well as other religious texts) very clearly teach us about birth, death and purpose of our life on this earth. We don’t want to live forever for a miserable life. The life (the time span on earth), which the God gave us is more than enough. And that will no doubt be a joyous one. If we seek more, no doubt it would be a horrible and miserable one on this earth. So sad to say, this kind of desire to capture the place of God is not a scientist’s fault. It started at the beginning of creation, Adam and Eve desired to be God but faced the consequences. I am really happy about our Indian scientists' response to the US computer scientist Raymond’s new findings. They bluntly rejected the mere possibility of it. I really appreciate our scientists' vision and stand on this issue.
8 November 2009                                       
Source: The Sunday Indian News Weekly, New Delhi
Picture Credit: http://www.thesundayindian.com 



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Why Julian Assange is TSI’s man of the year! A Feed back to the Editorial



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By. ARINDAM CHAUDHURI, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE SUNDAY INDIAN | January 9, 2011 11:15

I am sure you all must be wondering what’s new or great about this – the entire world already is talking about it! Well, I promise I won’t write about Assange at all. Yet, I hope by the end of this article, you will realize what’s the big deal about this heading. After the overwhelming response to my previous to last editorial on media and lobbying, and combining it with my previous edit on democracy, I thought I should further my views – this time on media and democracy put together. When I had written elaborately on lobbying in my above mentioned editorial, I had only touched upon the perspective of the extent to which nations go to maintain their image. I had taken examples of how the History Channel, akin to slavish propagators of the capitalist dictate, distorted and promoted the image of the biggest global revolutionary icon, Che Guevara, as a global terrorist. I had also quoted how Michael Moore’s film Sicko was edited by an American channel and given a conclusion other than the one he had originally made (Moore had concluded that the Cuban health system was the best, while the channel in question – after doing a series on it without knowing the ending, and subsequently realising that the conclusion could be bad for America’s PR – changed the ending with a voiceover saying that the Canadian health system was the best). So, in any case, when the truth is not being crushed by the American government like in the case of Julian Assange, it is crushed by the media themselves. The problem is as much the media as the government.Read More Here





MY RESPONSE TO THE EDITORIAL

It’s really unfortunate to note that you have selected a person who stand in front for cheating and wickedness, Whatever reason to compromise/support Assanage’s action, its very unfortunate that you selected such a person as your Person of the Year, As someone said “wiki leak is a wicked leak,” yes I fully agree with that statement.

No, doubt the print media is the most benefited one because of this leaking process LOL people like you should appreciate wiki’s wicked deeds, since the print media benefited much out of it. Everyday they (Print/Visual media) create a kind of sensational news with different political and social individuals as well as nations and its rulers and leaders.

I had a high esteem to you and your publications but by this all fell apart, Sorry for saying this, investigative journalism is good to discover the truth, but that should not be with a cheating mind. You and your paper did many such wonderful stories systematically and truthfully, I appreciate you for that, but such actions should not be with cheap mentality, Of course freedom of press/media cannot be misused for personal gain or to black mail people.

But here wiki leak created utter chaos and it created a kind of hatredness among people and nations. And you supported such a personality to create tension and chaos among people. This is not expected of such a reputed publication like yours, For this the reason you mentioned is not reasonable at all.
Sorry to say this
With kind regards
P V Ariel
Secunderabad





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Some of my Write-up Published and unpublished Part IX





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(Letters to the Editor posted to different publications)

Some of my write-ups posted to different newspapers and weeklies (published and unpublished)

TSI's Cover Page
More tokenism and less feat
I fully agree with the views raised in the editorial, “It is indeed commendable that we have successfully hit space; but then, there is a lot that needs to be done on the ground!!! “  (TSI 2 November 2008).  Of course we have achieved a great land mark in the field of space research.  No doubt we have to stand strong against our neighboring countries like China etc…but at the present juncture it will be a far cry to compete with countries like China. Yes, we need to be equipped to face the rebel, but not be at the cost of common man. At a time as such, a major portion of India’s population is below poverty line and many are unable to meet even the regular needs, apart from the medical needs, will it be justifiable to spent colossal amount on moon projects like this? As Arindam Chaudhuri said, it looks like mere tokenism, and shallow prestige with less achievement.  We need to think twice before spending such a lot of energy and money on such missions.  Instead think of it to divert at least a part of that huge amount for the welfare of the common man.

Khaki (Uniform of Policemen) devils in God's own COUNTRY

In the recent times many fake swamis—sanyasis (Godmen) are under the police net in connection with the cheatings, distortion and amassing of unaccountable wealth.  These people are taking advantage of the gullible believer's ignorance.  The superstitions among the people are forcing them to follow such fake godmen and women. 
In the recent incident one Mr. Santosh Sivan (a so called swami) got arrested on many serious offense, further investigations brought out unbelievable activities of this man including rape and custody of minor girls etc..  After his arrest many such fake godmen's and women's are arrested in Kerala for illegal activities in the name of religion and belief. And many others are in fear for their so called spiritual activities in the name of god.  The most shocking thing is that in the santosh sivan's case some top police officials and even some politicians are in support to this so called swami's activities.
This is was shocking news to the general public.   Police force is for the protection of the fellow citizens, but in many cases our police forces are found the opposite and far from efficient.   They are regarded corrupt and oppressive and have utterly failed to secure the confidence and co-operation of the general public.   We blame the British for whatever they had bequeathed to us—be it the railways or the police force.   Even after many years of Independence our protective force is still behaving like primitive people.   It is more shocking that such news came out from a highly literate state! What then is the condition of the less literate states in India? 
Police force is meant for protecting the interest of the general public, but it is a sorry state that they are giving a big helping hand to the culprits and antisocial elements who attack and even kill the public for their selfish interest.  
A report says, out of the 50,000 police force 850 are facing criminal charges and only a meager number of 19 are removed from service so far.  This still shows the pathetic condition of our administrative system.   Why such delay in taking action against these corrupt policemen/women, (Note, that the figure relate to the period between 2000 and 2006), may be the question arises is "Who will bell the cat?" How can a reputed judicial system can close their eyes on such atrocities by the police force.
A few years back in South Korea a lock up death of a student forced the cabinet to resign and a new cabinet assumed power.   The time is up, for the need of a total and drastic change in the present functioning of the police system for the betterment of the police as well as the country.

  'Aarushi: How not to investigate murder'

Apropos the write-up of Joginder Singh, 'Aarushi: How not to investigate murder' (June 26) brought out some more facts about our protecting force.  Police force is for the protection of the fellow citizens, but in many cases our police forces are found the opposite and far from efficient.   They are regarded corrupt and oppressive and have utterly failed to secure the confidence and co-operation of the general public.   We blame the British for whatever they had bequeathed to us—be it the railways or the police force.   Even after many years of Independence our protective force is still behaving like primitive people.  The recent incidents in Kerala and other places are still shocking; the police officials are hand in glow with the fake swamis for their unsocial activities like rape and extortion of money.
Police force is meant for protecting the interest of the general public, but it is a sorry state that they are giving a helping hand to the criminals to cheat and amass unaccountable wealth.
A report says, out of the 50,000 police force 850 are facing criminal charges and only a meager number of 19 are removed from service so far.  This still shows the pathetic condition of our administrative system.   Why such delay in taking action against these corrupt policemen. (Note, that the figure relate to the period between 2000 and 2006), may be the question arises is "Who will bell the cat?" How can a reputed judicial system can close their eyes on such atrocities by the police force.
A few years back in South Korea a lock up death of a student forced the cabinet to resign and a new cabinet assumed power.   The time is up, for the need of a total and drastic change in the present functioning of the police system for the betterment of the police as well as the country.

‘Private Police’ The Need of the Hour

Apropos the ‘Musings’  “Private Police*Read full text below this write up. (TSI 12 October 2008) made a serious reading.  As Mr. Prasoon S Majumdar said, no doubt, the private police force can not only ease the pressure of the present police force but also by the co-operation of the existing force much can be done.  But will that be acceptable to the present police departments –Center and State—?  Unfortunately the sad part or the major setback in our police dept. is that they treat the common man as thief or criminal.  If a person visits a police station to file a complaint, they look at him as a culprit.  This is the general practice in most of the police stations in India. Vice verse it creates a kind of fear and the people look them as some terror figures. In many cases the common man or the poor will always suffer under their hands.  This is against the basic principles of the police ethics or theory.  This trend should go.  The present system needs a tremendous change.  Though the British wrote the Police Act in 1861 there were some commissions and proposals came up for reform, but nothing much has happened because of the negligence of our political leaders.  They are least bothered since they always get VIP treatments here.  The common man is always the victim to this system and politicians and rich always escape because of their money and power.  The private police force with the co-operation of center and state forces can solve many problems India now facing.   This will work only when all the three should have a mutual understanding and co-operation in tackling the problems irrespective of the political influences. The present ego of center state police and no political interference should be allowed.  Will this happen in India is a BIG question to be answered. 

A Few Good Words For Bush

Apropos Arindam Choudhury’s edit “Finally for a change—a few good words for Bush.” Made an interesting reading.  I really got surprised to see the great turnaround in editor’s opinion, otherwise a usual Bush bashing through his columns.  I fully agree with some of the points like his unrelenting supports and recognition towards outsourcing and nuclear energy pact even in spite of the strong opposition within the country.   As the edit said it’s really appreciable for the stand he has shown towards Russia and some other African countries. Though his major activities in his tenure was not much appreciable, as Arindam said, “The world, would always remember Bush for his humility.  The edit really was a fitting tribute to an outgoing President of a big nation.
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