Diluting AFSPA Will Be A Blunder

It is really alarming to see that the government of India is planning to modify (read dilute) the AFSPA or Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Everybody accepts that there have been some instances of misuse of this power by certain bad elements in the Army. And those scoundrels should be awarded the harshest possible punishments.

But under no circumstances it is acceptable that the government will modify the Act, thereby diluting the effectiveness of the same which in turn will have a highly adverse impact on the performance of the security personnel fighting day in and day out to keep our country safe from the fangs of bloody terrorists.

Almost every day a number of government officials of various ranks and posts are misusing various powers that they enjoy by the virtue of their ranks and posts. If the government decides to stop the misuse of governmental powers by diluting the powers themselves, then it will eventually dilute the executive capacity of the government itself.

The best way to ensure that no military officer misuses AFSPA is to award strong punishments to the offenders, which will discourage any officer from going for such an act in the future. Fake encounters is an alarming issue. But that does not mean that the government will dilute the AFSPA, thereby weakening our security personnel and giving the terrorists more power to harm us.

India’s “Palace On Wheels” Declared To Be The World’s 4th Best Luxury Train

It was a moment of extreme pride, glory and honour for India’s rich hospitality legacy, when the country’s mind-blowing luxury train “Palace On Wheels” was declared to be the world’s 4th best luxury train by “Conde Nast”, the prominent global travel magazine.

Notably, the ranking was made not by a group of domain experts comprising only a handful of people. Rather, it was based on a voting made by the readers of the magazine. The magazine asked its readers to rank each of their favourite trains out of 100 points, and our beloved “Palace On Wheels” grabbed the prestigious 4th position by attaining 83.94 points.

And which were the first three? Well, they were the Venice Simplon-Orient Express (89.92 points), Eurostar (86.92 points) and Pride of Africa, Rovos Rail (84.25 points).

I hope everybody will agree that this Indian jewel in the casket of global luxury trains has been awarded an honour that it truly deserved.

We are really proud of you, “Palace On Wheels”. Congrats!

And a bagful of congrats to the first three rankers, as well.

What Type Of Tech-Savviness Is This?

Other day I was going through a discussion on Apple i-Pad in the technology column of a top English daily. The discussion basically focused on a comparison between the Apple device and laptop, and sought to highlight certain drawbacks or inconveniences that one may have to face while using Apple i-Pad, but not while using laptop.

The column carried the comments made by some consumers having “first hand knowledge” of using Apple i-Pad. They all accepted certain inconveniences that the Apple device suffers from. However, a couple of them said that they would still go for that device, given the various features and attractions that it boasts, and which these consumers find so irresistible.

I was truly enjoying the column. Though I do not appreciate one getting too much obsessed with tech gadgets, I nevertheless appreciated the passion of those i-Pad users, who are using the gadget not out of any genuine need, but simply out of love for the gadget.

But then, while I was almost at the end of the column, I got this tremendous shock (sorry if I am overreacting). One of those consumers (who is a Web entrepreneur) said that he had already bought 4 Apple i-Pads during his last visit to the USA. One for himself, one for his 60 plus father. Fine. And the remaining two? Well, they are for his two sons. And their age? Now hold your breath. One of his sons is 5, while the other one is just 2 (and can barely read or write).

I was so shocked that I read the sentence twice, only to be sure that I read it right. And finally I was forced to digest this fact that it was indeed true.

There is no doubt that the gentleman has every right to decide what gift he will give to his kids, and we have no right to interfere in his personal matter.

But tell me, is it at all appropriate? Giving a gift of Rs. 30,000 each to kids of 5 and 2 years? Has the gentleman thought about the adverse impact that the gift will have on the boys?

First, they are getting habituated to using costly materials since their childhood, which is certainly not a healthy habit.

Worse, they are getting addicted to gadgets from this very early stage of life. They are getting this message that gadgets are part and parcel of modern human life, which will eventually make them so terribly obsessed with gadgets that they will be completely dependent on them. And it is a common knowledge that a lifestyle entailing an overt dependence on tech gadgets is not a very healthy lifestyle (or will it be so when those boys will be of my age?)

Don’t you think it would have been better if the gentleman gifted his sons something like a book of puzzles or one containing maps and pictures of the different countries of the world, or a book on plants and animals, or a book of fairy tales, or a set of indoor games (like Scrabble or Chinese Checkers), or anything of that sort that should normally be presented to kids of that age? The highly costly Apple i-Pad was the only gift that he could thought about for those toddlers? Oh God!

What type of tech savviness is this? Probably I am not modern enough, but I feel that we must learn to differentiate between tech savviness and tech mania. Being passionate about something is a healthy habit, be it music, sports, books or tech gadgets. At the same time addiction to anything is highly unwelcome, be it movies, smoking, drugs or tech gadgets. Am I right?

Factual Error In “Concise Oxford English Dictionary”

Recently I was going through the world famous “Concise Oxford English Dictionary”, 10th Edition (Revised), edited by Judy Pearsall, when I came across a factual error.

I found that in that book the word “Darjeeling” has been described as – “A high quality tea grown in the mountains of northern India”.

The fact is, the mountain where the world famous Darjeeling tea is grown is in eastern India. The exact place where the tea is grown is the mountain of Darjeeling (from where the tea has got its name). And this mountain of Darjeeling is located in the Indian state of West Bengal, in eastern India.

By the way, some people feel that Darjeeling is in North-East India. That information is also wrong.

I hope the “Concise Oxford English Dictionary” will rectify the mistake in the next edition.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy Verdict – A Stigma For The Indian Judiciary

7th June 2010 will be remembered as a Black Day in the history of the Indian Judiciary. The laughably paltry punishment awarded to the accused is an ultra cruel joke that the honourable Indian judiciary has come up with, rubbing salt into the 25 years old wound of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims and their kin.

I do not know who or what is responsible for this shocking legal fiasco. It may be so that the damage was actually done when a Supreme Court Bench had diluted the charge against the Union Carbide India Limited management by declaring it as a case of causing death by negligence and not as a case of culpable homicide.

It may be so that actually it was CBI’s fault, as it failed to furnish enough evidence wherein the Court could have come up with a stronger verdict.

It may be so that the actual problem lied in the absence of a strong and effective Mass Disaster Law.

Well, I do not know what is the actual reason behind the Indian Judiciary’s failure in coming up with an appropriate verdict.

The only thing I know is that I am seriously frustrated that the law of my land could not award strong punishment to an MNC which caused the massacre of such a huge number of my fellow countrymen.

Wildlife Lovers Of India – Let’s Unite For The Elephant Reserve Of Hasdeo Arand In Chhattisgarh

The Raman Singh Government of Chhattisgarh has shown extreme callousness towards the maintenance of the state’s forest and wildlife reserve, while showing more interest in raking up moolah by permitting indiscriminate mining activities in the state. And one extremely irresponsible act that it has come up with is averting the notification of an elephant reserve at Hasdeo Arand even after getting necessary permission from the Central Government. Ironically, it was the Chhattisgarh Government itself that had taken the initiative for notifying the said area as an elephant reserve.

As many of us already know that increasing mining in Jharkhand and Orissa has made a huge number of elephants to flee to the forests of Sarguja, Jashpur and Korba in Chhattisgarh. Now, in 2002 the Chhattisgarh Government sent a proposal to the Central Government seeking permission for notifying over 384 sqkm in Hasdeo Arand forests as an elephant reserve.

However, in 2006 the state government came to know about a coal block of 100 sqkm that falls within the area that it had planned to get notified as the elephant reserve. The Raman Singh government soon withdrew the proposal that it had sent to the Centre, and shrunk the reserve area by 100 sqkm.

Today it has been 4 years after the Central Government has cleared the proposal for getting that area notified as an elephant reserve. But the state government has been dragging its feet on it.

This is really ridiculous. The government is welcome to fatten its kitty by permitting corporate houses to conduct mining. After all, if there is no mining then how can we get necessary objects like steel, coal, etc.?

But mining at the cost of nation’s forest and wildlife reserve is simply unacceptable.

The wildlife activists of India must unite to prevent the Raman Singh government from fiddling with the forest and wildlife reserve of Chhattisgarh.

Global Survey Exposes India’s Pathetic Broadband Speed

Well, this is really a very embarrassing news, especially for a country which takes huge pride in its excellence in the field of Information Technology (IT).

A global survey conducted by broadband statistics company Ookla has found that India is in the 133rd position in terms of download speed, thus being in the same league with highly backward countries (including countries of sub-Saharan Africa).

So what is the average download speed in India? Well, it is just 1.32mbps. Even Pakistan is in a better condition that ours, holding the 122nd position.

However, there is one consolation. Our other neighbours, like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh are behind us. What a relief, right?

By the way, the top position has been grabbed by South Korea. And the average download speed in that country? It is 32mbps.

Toyota Plans R&D Centre In India

The Indian job market may get a strong boost from the Japanese car maker Toyota, in the form of an R&D centre. The auto major with a world wide business empire is mulling such a centre on the Indian soil. This good news has been revealed by Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD of Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM). He has said that the proposal is at the discussion stage.

If one such centre really comes up, then it will understandably create a huge number of jobs. So let us keep our fingers crossed that the plan materializes.

By the way, the auto major will also love to set up an engine plant in India, but only after its annual sales in this country reaches 200,000 units-plus.

AI Grounds Pilots For Hard Landing – A Highly Unjustified Decision

The Air India authority has grounded two of its pilots for the hard landing of an Airbus A319. The two pilots were in charge of the Mumbai-Rajkot flight of 29th May, 2010, which made a landing of 1.9G (i.e. a hard landing) on the Rajkot runway. This resulted in some passengers complaining of discomfort and inconvenience. And following this, the Air India management decided to ground those pilots pending investigation.

Incidentally, this decision to ground the pilots over hard landing came just three days before Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked airlines not to judge the quality of a landing on the basis of whether it was a hard landing or a soft one.

Personally I feel that the decision to ground those two pilots is completely unjustified. It has already been proved that the Indian airlines’ over obsession with soft landing entails strong threat to passenger safety. It is this attitude of airlines that forces pilots to go for soft landing even when they know that it is risky. In fact, as everybody knows it by now, that one possible reason behind the Mangalore air crash was the pilot’s desperation to avoid hard landing even though it seemed to be the only way out.

In any case, DGCA has now recognized the fact that the quality of landing has nothing to do with whether it is a hard landing or a soft one. Therefore, the Air India management should withdraw its decision and reinstate the pilots with immediate effect.

And one suggestion for the air passengers – Please stay away from complaining when your flight makes a hard landing. Yes, it causes inconveniences. But you must realize that if the pilot has made a hard landing, then there must have been some reason behind it.

Hard landing may entail inconvenience. But soft landing entails lack of safety. And you will certainly prefer an inconvenient landing rather than a risky one, right?

Please remember that it is your complaint on the occasion of a hard landing that is compelling the airlines to force their pilots to go for soft landing even when it is risky. So, please behave a bit responsibly.

Manipur Government’s Remarkably Strong Handling Of Muivah’s Unacceptable Demand

With a rare display of ruthlessness (something that is so rare in “democratic India”), the Manipur government has firmly resisted NSCN (IM) leader Thuingaleng Muivah’s demand to visit his native village Somdal, located in the Ukhrul district of Manipur. The Okram Ibobi Singh government of Manipur had rightly concluded that there was a possibility of serious disturbances if Mr. Muivah could manage to set foot in that Naga dominated region, and quite understandably refused to allow him to visit Somdal.

And I am genuinely happy that the Manipur government has managed to stick to its decision instead of buckling under the huge pressure that it has faced. Rather, the government is countering all those pressure tooth-and-nail, with sound determination.

Just look at the way the government is dealing with the hooligans of All Naga Students Association (Ansam). As a mark of “protest” against government’s decision not to allow Muivah to visit his native village, the Ansam activists have blocked National Highways 39 and 53 since 12th April, 2010 (though originally Ansam started the blockade to protest government’s decision to hold Autonomous District Council elections in the tribal-dominated hill districts). Quite understandably the blockade has caused serious trouble for the common people of the state, as they are suffering from a scarcity of all essential commodities (such as medicine and fuel) that enter the state through those highways.

But instead of showing any “soft approach’, the Manipur government has come down heavily on the Ansam activists. A couple of them have been arrested, though two of them were released after they promised to stay away from participating in the blockade. The tough talking Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai has also strongly asked Ansam to lift the 100 per cent illegal blockade, which has resulted in an unbearable economic crisis in the state, with only the common people being at the receiving end. Ansam is well advised to accept the state government’s invitation for talks, instead of continuing with that blockade or any other nuisance that will eventually invite troubles for itself.

Hopefully the “NRI” Naga leader has got a taste of a new India, where tolerance for hooliganism in the name of democratic rights is coming down to the zero level.

Britain Declines To Return Artifacts That It “Stole” From India

Britain has rejected India’s appeal to return various invaluable artifacts (including the famous diamond Koh-i-Noor) that were carted away from the Indian soil during Britain’s colonial rule in this country. Notably, most of these artifacts were carted away illegally.

One of those artifacts that India was unfortunate to lose was the world famous “Koh-i-Noor” diamond, which today embellishes the crown of the British monarch.

Britain has said that the British Museum Act of 1963 prevents the national museums of that country from removing items from their collections, though there are exceptions for human remains and objects lost during the Nazi era.

OK, we respect the law of their land. But I have just a humble question for the cultured and erudite Britishers - Are they doing any justice to their national prestige and image by holding back the objects that their forefathers stole from India?

I leave it to the conscience of our British friends.

Solar Powered AC For Leh Airport – An Appreciable Step

It was really heartening to know that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to install solar powered AC in the Leh airport in Ladakh. AAI is going to install solar panels on the roof of the new terminal of the airport, which is one of the world’s highest airfields courtesy its location at an altitude of 10,682-feet above sea level. The commendable project, which is to cost Rs. 5 crores, is likely to be completed within 2 years.

There is simply no doubt that the initiative is really an appreciable one. It is high time that everybody – ranging from organizational entities (both government and private) to individuals – focused more on renewable energy. Over dependence on conventional energy is not only causing a gradual erosion of the same, but is also causing inconveniences for us on occasions when the sources of conventional energy become temporarily inadequate. For example, the Leh airport authority has so far depended on hydro electricity for running the airport AC. But quite understandably that source becomes inadequate during winter, when the waters in that region dry up. This problem can be effectively addressed after the installation of the solar powered AC takes place.

Let’s wish AAI all the best for its Leh airport project.

Congrats To The Times of India For The Dramatic World Environment Day Gesture

I really enjoyed the pleasant surprise that I got from The Times of India (TOI) of yesterday’s (5th June 2010) edition, i.e. the edition of World Environment Day. I had barely opened the paper and was quickly browsing through the news items (as I was in a hurry to leave for my office), when my attention was caught by the news (basically an announcement by the TOI authority) that the edition was completely made of recycled newsprint. In a nutshell, the paper was an excellent example of recycling and renewable energy, a highly talked about issue in today’s world.

I simply felt great. Such an innovative gesture, that too by my favourite newspaper, was something that I really loved to experience. It was undoubtedly a great way to send a strong and effective message highlighting the cruciality of renewable energy. And it was also an example of “walking the talk”, wherein my favourite newspaper itself did something that it has urged its readers to do.

And yes, I have decided to permanently keep the paper in my collection as a souvenir.

Good job, TOI. I love you.

Six Months Old Girl Married Off In Pakistan

A 6 months old (yes, 6 months, not even 6 years) girl has been married off to a 25 years old man in Pakistan. Terribly shocking, right? But it is true.

Well, the background of the story is this –

A married man named Alamzeb (a resident of the from the Reri Goth area in Karachi) abducted the daughter of his neighbour Naseer, and fled away. Reportedly, the abduction took place with the girl’s consent, as the two were in love with each other.

However, the girl’s family took the matter as a prestige issue, and started threatening the family of Alamzeb. Ultimately the matter reached such a level that the local community elders held a “Jirga” (sort of a council) to resolve the issue.

And then the “Jirga” came up with a “great” solution. What was the solution? Well, they said that the 6 months old daughter of Alamzeb should be married off to 25 years old Haq Nawaz, the brother of the girl whom Alamzeb abducted. The “Jirga” gave this ruling on the basis of “Swara”.

And what the hell is “Swara”? Well, it is a child marriage custom practiced in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This custom is used to resolve blood feuds among families, tribes and clans, wherein young girls are forcibly married off to the members of various other clans.

It is incidents like these which remind us that in some parts of this world the time is still stuck in the 18th century.

Source: http://news.oneindia.in/2010/05/31/6month-baby-girl-married-to-25-yr-old-man-in-pakistan-tose.html