Hey Delhites! Do you carry an identity proof when out on roads of the capital? If no, you may land up in trouble. From January 15, it would be necessary for all to carry identity proofs for [as they say it] security reasons. The Leutinent-Governor of Delhi said on Friday that the Delhi Police had been issued orders to conduct random checks on people to establish their credentials.

Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna said,

The decision to verify the identity of the citizens has been taken in the wake of the recent terror attacks in various parts of the country. The move would help in preventing such incidents.

Identity cards issued by schools, colleges, and offices would also serve the purpose along with election photo I-card, passport and ration cards, or just any valid identity proof. The Delhi government would give adequate publicity to this moves, the Leutinent-Governor (L-G) has said.

The L-G said that the move was not aimed at harassing people but protecting them. But in a country like ours, not everyone has got an identity proof. It is mainly due to lack of appropriate certificates like birth certificates and the new election I-Card. A large number of people flock to Delhi in search of livelihood as they do not get ample to survive in their villages and small-towns.

A majority of these people are not likely to possess any identity proof. So will they require not to venture out on roads? Or simply be asked to leave the city? Or put in jails? The move to make carrying I-Cards necessary in Delhi, is a major setback to the freedom of people. If I can’t move freely in my own country, then where can I? It’s fine that there is a need to nab terrorists but, is it imminent to curtail the freedom of a common-man?

As long as terrorists are concerned, I am dead sure they would manage to spoof this new provision some how or the other. Making a forged identity card is not that difficult and it’s quite unlikely that the police will verify the document.

Are you ready to get down from your AC vehicle at the dead of night and be frisked, that too in a chilly winters of Delhi. Hope people get used to the insult soon.

Image Credit: Himalmag

Source: The Hindu

Something becomes so common for those enjoying the privileges like the idea of someone being ‘unprivileged’ doesn’t really occur! It’s something like Mary saying, “If they don’t have bread, why don’t they eat cake?” The Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, commonly known as Forest Rights Act, notified on January 1, requires passports or satellite images as evidence for claiming rights on the forest land possessed by tribals.

But, how many of the 10 million forest dwellers expected to benefit from the Act are supposed to have a passport and a satellite image of their houses and land?! But, the government has included it in the list of evidence for proving their land rights! The other thing that can be produced as evidence include ration cards, voter ID cards and house tax receipts.

The newly-notified law will give tribals and other forest dwellers the right to cultivate forest land under their occupation and customary rights inside forests like grazing. But the right to forest land will be restricted to 4 hectares. All those who have been living in and depending on forests for livelihood for the last three generations [75 years] as on 13 December, 2005 will be benefited by the Act.

The Act also recognizes the right to collect, use, and dispose of minor forest produce, which has been traditionally collected within or outside village boundaries. These “minor forest produce” include all non-timber forest produce of plant origin, including bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers and the like.

The Act is a good step towards the rights of tribals, who have been caught in the forest-human interference tangle, which has been mainly created by those who lived outside the jungles. But, the Act in itself has not pleased tribals and activists who see the present law as flawed. They say the provisions for claiming land rights are such that they may promote non-eligible people to gain control of forest land through unfair means.

The provisions, they say, may also harm forests. The law has left many areas open to interpretation thereby giving the government chance to exclude several tribals. The government should obviously make or amend laws in such a way that they could not be misused - both by people and the government.

But given the present scenario, the law will obviously give some relief to the tribals, who had been fighting hard to get their rights on the forest land and escape eviction from their dwellings. But the poor people living in tiger forests need to be looked after and properly resettled, if they are uprooted from their age-old habitats.

Image: Tourorissa.com

Source: Business Standard

India is heading towards becoming a economic super power with its ever growing economy. Yesterday the sensex reached a new high of 14, 664 points. The PM and his finance minister keep reiterating that India is destined to grow at fast pace. They want high growth rates, as high as 9 per cent.

Town are burgeoning, city population increasing everyday with people migrating from rural to urban areas. The earning capacity as well as the purchasing power of Indian are gradually increasing. The younger generation is earning a decent amount as salary at tender ages. Shopping malls and luxury goods are gaining market. All this sound really good. We are on a development track.

Is it really so?

Everyday I take two bitter doses of misery of India with plain water that may not be safe for the rich, purified water drinking Indians.

I generally eat out in modest restaurants and messes owing to my inability to cook [Not because I don’t know cooking]. Lunch at around 1pm and dinner at 10 pm. Both the time I see underage children working in those small food outlets-serving food, cleaning tables, washing dishes and at times even cooking in big hearths. Though a law exists in India prohibiting employment of children below 14 years in restaurants, hotels, tea stalls, homes and other similar places, it is rampantly violated. Almost every food outlet on roads and other corners depend heavily on these young workers.

The law also has a provision of fining the employer and also punishing him with a jail term, I haven’t heard of a single incidence of the law being enforced. Is the government serious about the law? I think it is there just to keep the government’s head high. We have enforced a ban on child labour in our country, they can always say. It’s a different matter altogether that it is never implemented.

Child labour is just not restricted to restaurants and hotels but every where. In a building next to the one in which I live, the safaiwala (cleaner) is a small boy who accompanies his father.

The problem of child labour cannot be tackled by any law but requires ground work. The children are forced to work because they have no other option. Children from poor families need to add to the income of their families to enable the family eat two meals. Even if their parents want to educate and give them a good life, their poverty and economic background forbids them to do so. Some children who run away from their homes also end up working in these small roadside enterprises.

If the government wants to curb the rampant child labour, it will have to provide good employment opportunity that enables them to feed their families. Once the parents are able to meet their family’s basic needs, children won’t be forced to work. They would then be able to go to the schools where they can build their futures. The government should work for providing employment for parents and education for their children. Thats how our children would get what they desrve as children; food, shelter, care and education.

Image Source: Fao.org

On 9 June, a Hindi news channel with tagline ‘Khabar Har Keemat Par’ [News at any cost] was running a news story prominently at prime time. What was the story about?

The story titled ‘Pati, Patni aur Wo’ [Husband, Wife and the Mistress] was about a problem arising out of an alleged extramarital affair. A man was allegedly caught red-handed romancing with his colleague on the banks of Gomati in a UP town by his wife with help of her brothers. The wife alleged that her husband was having an extramarital affair with the woman since past seven months.

The wife and her supporters physically assaulted the woman, accused her of being of bad character and foiled her all attempts to save herself from being identified and captured on the video camera. Instead they caught hold of the woman by her hair and forced her to face the camera so as to reveal her identity. At the same time they kept on telling that the lady is ***** from Chandigarh.

On the other hand, some men kept hold of the husband and bombarded him with absurd questions and allegations. One Sikh person kept asking one question ‘Wo kya teri behan lagti hai?’ [Is this girl your sister?] The Sikh did not seem to be related to the husband or wife. Must be a curious onlooker, who got bit too involved in the dramatic event. Some great people asked the husband to slap the woman to prove that he was not romantically involved with the woman.

After watching this drama on the TV screen for more than five minutes [Don’t know how long was the story played?], I uttered a bad expletive, not for the man, not for the wife, neither for the woman, but for the people and news channel responsible for airing the news story.

All this drama was enacted before cameras. [From where did the camera appear on the scene? Did the wife call the TV persons to record the drama or they happened to be there by coincidence. Or was it a citizen journalist doing the great service to the society?] Moreover, the reporter of the channel took ‘bites’ from the man, his wife, a loud mouth and also from the other woman.

Is this a news event worth being covered prominently on a national news channel? What if the allegation on the woman of being involved in extramarital affair was wrong? Will the channel be able to return back her reputation and respect in the society?

Is it not important for the media to ensure that characters of people do not get tarnished on mere allegations? Even if the lady was having an affair with the man, is it morally correct to make a news story on such a relationship? I believe, it is purely personal matter and need not be run on news channels that to nationwide. Many extramarital affairs must be going in the world. How is it important for people like us? If someone is engaging in extramarital affair, it’s a family problem and should be tackled accordingly. Some people taking side of the media will say, the wife brought the affair at a public place and created the drama. But why did you telecast it? It is due to the wide coverage to such petty things that the wife must have been prompted to take such a step. I think she must have called the news channel. It is the duty of the news channel to filter the news and keep out that is not good.

The telecast of the news story was morally and ethically wrong. It’s not that the decision makers and the people responsible for airing the news did not have judgment of morality and ethics. It’s only that they choose to overlook the moral and ethical aspect of such news stories as these stories are a means of increasing TRP which translates into more money. This is the general trend of the media business, especially TV. After all they are into money making business.

But how long shall this continue - money over responsibility. How long will the news channels continue to give us ‘news at any cost’?

Image Source: India Daily

All those who are happy on government’s proposal to allow adult programming between 11pm and 4am, there’s some bad news to put off the celebrations.

The government’s definition of adult programming is quite different from that of broadcasters and viewers. The draft of the the self-regulation guidelines for broadcasting will leave most of the ‘adult’ content off TV screen.

The draft regulation says that the adult content must not show:

1. Prolonged or frequent use of highly coarse language

2. Prolonged or frequent use of dialogues with explicit sexual connotations

3. Prolonged or passionate kissing

4. Prolonged or frequent depiction of gestures, movements or sounds suggesting sexual activity

5. Complete nudity with full exposure of sexual organs or female breasts

6. Fondling of female breasts or sexual organs

The list must have put a question before all those eagerly awaiting adult content on Indian TV:

What are they going to show in adult programmes that we don’t see in regular programmes?

There is some thing that many would cheer. The draft will allow depiction of homosexuality. But it is still counted as ‘perverted or socially unacceptable practices’.

Whether there should be a restriction on access to adult content including porn is somewhat contentious. Many consider the censorship by the government as a violation of freedom of expression. They opine that one should have free access to all type of content including adult content and porn. The person should be the decision-maker whether (s)he wants to see it or not. But many including the government say this would be against the interest of the society and will corrupt young generations. It is a different thing altogether that today’s youth are becoming liberal in everything including sex.

If the society is changing, is there any point in forcing a ban on adult content? Only thing that I think is required is a proper control over distribution and sale of adult programmes so that it is available to adults but is not accessible to underages who are not mature enough to take their decisions and understand the implications.

Image source: Wallpaperbase

Source: Business Standard

Dispelling all complains of degraded and unethical news, trivialisation of news and blurring line between news and entertainment channels, Rajat Sharma’s India TV has been given a nod by Indian viewers.

According to TAM’s Peoplemeter data, India TV has bagged 17.4 per cent of the viewers above 15 years in cable and satellite TV homes in Hindi speaking markets. India TV is second only to Aaj Tak which commanded 21.9 per cent.

India TV has been able to beat Aaj Tak in average weekly time spent on channels. India TV is watched for average 40 minutes whereas Aaj Tak for just 34 minutes.

India TV has been banking on sensationalisation, entertainment, celebrities, stings, horror- and sex-based programmes. It has been severely criticised in journalistic circles. In many newsrooms, admitting to being a regular viewer of India TV may bring lot of embarrassment and make the person a fun-topic.

It is a general trend that news channels are adopting more of tabloidisation and turning into entertainment channels.

Ever since the news channels turned 24-7, there is a huge void which need to be filled. It is almost impossible to find real news to fill the entire space. But the space can’t be left void. So news is being created and non-news programmes included.

News channels are business not charity. The investors want maximum profits possible. Only way to have more profits is to get more ad revenues which is possible only through high viewership. Sensationalisation of news, stings, entertaining news, horror and sex-based programmes are part of the viewership increasing tactics.

Every news person knows what’s ethical and what’s not. But all are blinded by currency notes. With viewers accepting the trivial content greedily, the trend doesn’t seem to stop any soon. A reversal can be witnessed only when viewers mature. Till then wait patiently. What else?

Source: Business Standard
Image Source: Saveindianfamily.org

Growing bike market has also tempted cult-bikes like Harley Davidson, Yamaha, Suzuki to consider entering the Indian market. The prices of these cult bikes can be more than a mid-size car.

Just opposed to market sentiment, Hero Honda is planning to launch motorcycles in the price range of Rs 12,500-15,000.

At present, the cheapest bikes cost something between Rs 30,000-35,000 in the country. Even a out-of-trend scooter costs more than the planned Hero Honda motorbike.

Ever since Tata Motors announced their 1-lakh car, it was being looked at as a possible choice for those willing to purchase a motorbikes or upgrade for two-wheeler owners to four-wheelers. Paying twice the price of a motorbike for a car was within reach of many two-wheeler owners and was very tempting. “Why go for a bike if I can get a car for some more money?” attitude was seen as a serious challenge for the motorcycle manufacturers as the gap between 1-lakh car and motorbikes was narrowing.

The proposed motorcycle will not only restrain the shift from motorbikes to Tata’s cheap car expected to be available in market from next year but also create new consumers for motorbikes.

Environmental concern:
All said, the availability of low cost vehicles will put pressure on the already deteriorating air quality and increasing carbon emissions.

Cheaper vehicles, more owners. More owners, more fuel burnt. More fuel, more pollution.

My Dilemma

Should I be happy about the availability of low-cost vehicles in coming years or be concerned about the damage to the environment that is almost inevitable as vehicles become more affordable.

Image Source: Blog-city

Source: Business Standard

Recently, six states-Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan-have banned sex education for adolescents or refused to incorporate it into curriculum, saying the study material was too explicit or was against the social and moral values of the country. The programme, devised jointly by the Ministry of Education and the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), was aimed at providing sex education to adolescents school students between 15-17 years of age to improve understanding of adolescents about their body and help counter the rising problem of HIV/AIDS in the country.

According to the United Nations, India has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases with 5.7 million HIV-positive people.

India is a developing country that is becoming more and more liberal and experimentative. The society is gradually becoming more permissive of sex prior to marriage, though it’s still considered immoral and shameful in most parts of the country. People are becoming more conscious of their health. In such a situation, sex education, better to be called health education, is a necessity.

The adolescents are quite inquisitive about the changes taking place in their body and want to know about sex and sexuality. The social taboo associated with the topic restrains them to ask their parents or elders. In such a situation its difficult for them to get correct information about the anatomy of human body and sexuality. They often depend on their peers who are equally ill-informed. The absence of proper knowledge makes them even more curious towards sex and the opposite sexes. Many of them try to find about sexuality through experimentation which may further worsen the situation in lack of proper knowledge. If they are given proper information regarding their body, sex and HIV, they would be able to take care of their health and body in a better way. Their decisions would be more mature.

A healthy, living society has no place for stagnation and things have to evolve including morality and social values.

Sujatha Rao, NACO chief very correctly questions:

Are you more concerned about culture than the lives of younger people?

Source: International Herald Tribune
Image Souorce: International Herald Tribune

Shashi Bhushan, member of the committee organising celebrations marking 150 of the revolt said:

The government has agreed, in principle, to our request of building a memorial bigger than India Gate. At least 300 guerrilla wars were fought against the British in 1857.

If the proposal is accepted by the government, it is expected to give rise to fresh demands by the Army for a national war memorial in Delhi. So far there is no monument in memory of the martyrs of the Indian Army who laid their lives defending the mother nation.

India Gate, the famous landmark of Delhi, is frequented by tourists-foreign and domestic - along with local Delhites. The landmark has been witness of many love stories-some resulting in marriage, some ending tragically. One can easily spot couples enjoying enjoying each other’s company be it day or night. The adjoining parks and boating lakes serve as nice place for lovers to enjoy some time together. The place draws more crowd in evenings and nights when the memorial is illuminated with floodlights. The place also serves as venues for many demonstrations and gatherings.

India Gate is often considered to be a war memorial not only by foreign tourists but also Indians who may otherwise be aware of the general history of the country. India Gate was built by the British architect - Edwin Lutyen - in the memory of the soldiers who died in World War I and the Afghan Wars.

India Gate that has witnessed the first day of independent India be dwarfed by other monuments (in size, India Gate is equal to 13 storied building) but can any other monument replace India Gate?

Source: The Telegraph

Image Source: Newspapers24.com

The ice edge where the bears hunt in spring are melting too quickly forcing the bears and their cubs to stress through a longer summer without food. The bears hunt for seals on the melting ice-edge in the begining of summers and then spend the summer fasting. As the ice has started melting quickly, the bears get less time to catch the seals which themselves have problem coping with quick meltdown. The seals require stable ice for rest, digesting their food and more importantly rearing their pups safely.

A decline in population and reduced weight of female bears in western Hudson Bay area in Canada have been reported where summer have become a month longer than what it was decades ago. Since bears spend their summers on land without food, longer summer means stressful fasting. Average birth weight of bear cubs has been reported to drop by 15 per cent from 1981 to 1998. The loss in weight of female bears may render them unfit to bear cubs.

Polar amplification effect has resulted in the rise of temperature of Greenwich by more than 2ºF, twice the global average. The melting of ice and snow cover results into more heat absorption which thereby accelerates temperature rise and ice melt down.

Unless the polar bears adapt to land-based living, no ice means no bears.

Global warming is having grave implications for all, especially those who aren’t the actual culprits of the carbon emissions responsible for temperature rise. People living in undeveloped nations and other organisms are the first to earn the wrath of nature for something that they are not responsible for.

Aren’t we going to mend our ways?

Source: Reuters
Image source: exzooberance.com