Listen....

I initially intended to post this blog on "Snapshots..", but then I decided that it's place was more deserved here. The LSE Anthropological Society screeened a movie today called "Shooting Dogs", which was based on the Rwandan genocide in 1994. This is not a movie review, but while the movie did suffer from the usual cliches, it did drive home a point. Close to a million Rwandans were slaughtered and killed in that year alone. There is a scene in the movie that continues to play on in my mind. Amidst the madness, a Tutsi woman gives birth to a child. At that moment a question arose in my mind. With what hope are we bringing new born children into this world? A world where greed, ignorance, intolerance forces man upon himself. A world where wars are brought upon by men and innocent women and children pay the price for being caught in the crossfire. Are we, who inhabit this world, doing justice to the newborn? As the question played itself out in my mind, the movie continued and soon gave me an answer. The baby was murdered a few minutes later. And what was depicted wasn't an exaggeration, I have heard stories like these from Gujarat, Iraq, Serbia,... One of the main characters in the movie, a young man from Britain finds himself incapable to alter the situation and finally finds himself choosing the safety of his own life in the face of the inescapable slaughter of 2500 Tutsi people. The director leaves the viewer with the helplessness, guilt and failure of this character. Cut!

I am a man of privilege, and if you can read this you are a man/woman of privilege too. I was brought up in safe, secure environments. I have had the joy of family and friends around me, and continue to do so. I was never helpless, I have always had the power of choice. To be honest I have never felt utterly powerless, never felt underprivileged, never felt that my existence was immaterial to the environment around me. I am a man of privilege.
But at times, through ways I could not have fathomed, the voice of the weak and the powerless travel to me and plead to be heard. They wish to be heard, they wish to be rescued from their lives devoid of hope, they wish the privileged will listen to their silent cries and come and save them. They wish..........for that is all that they can do.
We, the privileged, can effect change. We can give our children, the children of your street and the children in the orphanage close by, a better world. We can start by listening, listening to the unheard voices crying for help, and paying heed to them. It may not be the answer, but it will begin to take the world to a place better than it is today.

India at 60 in a Changing World: next 20 years

This post is a little late, it should have been up by the 15th. The event was one hosted by LSE which marked the launch of LSE's India observatory. The speakers were:
OP Bhatt - Chairman of the State Bank of India
Mervyn King - Governor of the Bank of England
Kamal Nath - Minister for commerce and industry for the Indian government
YV Reddy - Governor of the Reserve Bank of India
Nicholas Stern - IG Patel Chair in Government and Economics and director of the India Observatory at LSE.

The event was an enjoyable one and unlike what I feared, there was a good mix of praise and concern when the speakers echoed their sentiments. I shall list some notable comments by Kamal Nath and OP Bhatt.

Kamal Nath:
"India's perception of itself is changing, not the world's alone."
"...India has more people living on $1 a day(300 million) than those in all the Least Developed Countries put together. "
"Indian agriculture is about subsistence and not about commerce."

OP Bhatt:
"Infrastructure is a concern and if not addresed will choke growth.......India will need $600 billion in the next five years for infrastructure development. "
"The scale and size of Indian banking is a concern.......market capitalization is very low."

In terms of the speeches OP Bhatt's was the most engrossing, he spoke more about the problems facing the country, and even as he did so, there was the unmistakeable spirit behind his words that none of these problems were indomitable. He dwelled on all the key sectors(education, public health, infrastructure, finance, labour) which have a direct/indirect bearing on the country's future. Reflecting his awareness that he was addressing a global audience, he brought his speech to an end with a sanskrit phrase - "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" (the world is one family) and stressed on the world's need to realise it soon. That alone made my day.

The future looks bright.

Being an Indian

I find myself in a time and place where almost everyday I am meeting someone new, someone from a different culture, someone who looks at the world in different ways than I do. Most often when I explain where I am from, I am mostly met with the response that I am in one of the most exciting places today. And yes, that is quite true. India is definitely an exciting place to be today, there is a lot happening in the country. Every industrial sector is writing new stories, be it IT, retail, media or telecom, to name a few. Educated Indian minds express themselves and their opinions quite eloquently over personal blogs. There are many questions being posed in the public space, over education, government, labour and there are quite a few intellectuals who nurture public debate over informed articles in the print media.
We are looking at a period when the reins of the future are slowly being handed over to a younger generation, a generation that is very ambitious, a generation that is increasingly questioning it's identity in a world that is more connected today than it ever has been. The whiff of change is ever present, but lest one gets carried away with optimism, there are serious problems (social and political) that are ever present too. It is upto this new, young, hot-blooded generation to find more imaginitive solutions to the issues that face the country. When independence was won in 1947, democracy in India was viewed by the west as an experiment whose chances of success were bleak. But 60 years later, democracy survives in this great nation, not once has it slipped into military rule. History will continue to be written here and it's implications will have a lot of meaning for the rest of the world. I shall bring this post to an end with an inspiring video commemorating 60 years of Indian independence.

John Berger

I met him for the first time today. The event was the completion of a new book he'd written, 'Letters from A to X' , parts of which he read out to a small audience. After the reading session the microphone was passed around the audience and questions were entertained, starting from his book and finally centring around the Palestine issue. At the end of the event I was fortunate to have a very brief conversation with him. This is the advice he gave to younger generations wishing to take up the cause of the oppressed-

• Listen
• The struggle is unending, and those wishing to enter the struggle must realise it.
  

Yatra Log

The yatra is over and a log of the entire journey is with me, but I am currently exploring alternative channels to publish it on the net. My apologies for the delay in posting my experiences, but keep watching this space for updates.

The journey thus begins....

A long cherished dream finally comes to fruition, in 4 hours from now I will embark on a trip across the nation, a Bharat-yatra one can say. The original plan encompassed a travel around all the 29 states across a span of 45 days. But rarely ever are idealistic visions translated into reality in their complete sense. Hence, the journey has been cut down to 21 days and the states intended to be covered, 17. I am always short of words when I am asked about the intent of this journey. I am not known among friends and family as an avid traveller and hence they seem the most surprised. The intent is simple, to know my nation better. I cannot pride myself on being an Indian(as I most often do), an Indian who knows his country well, if my only physical exposure to the country is restricted to a few cities and my native place. Hence the desire to journey around the country. The garbs that I don will be many, at times those of a tourist, at others those of a philosopher, an ascetic, a scholar, but they will all be driven by one single desire.....the pursuit of knowledge.
I shall try and post logs of my journey as often as I can, but a complete record of my journey in its exact chronology shall be posted on this blog by the end of next month.

Nuclear Storm

For all the success that was claimed by the government in negotiating a fair deal with Uncle Sam for the 123 agreement, the public didn't see themselves having to head to the polling booths. But if the political storm that has been raised at New Delhi doesn't blow over, the public could very well be headed there. It must be said that the situtaion is not all black and white. The left has raised some valid concerns and have had so since July 2005. It is a different story altogether that the media didn't pay much attention to communist cries, until the crescendo theatened to topple the government. One of the main concerns raised by the left is that the nuclear deal is much more than the deal alone, it involves a alignment of India's foreign policy alongside USA's geo-political strategy for Asia. Proof of this was seen when India voted against Iran at the IAEA both in 2005 and 2006. An independent foreign policy that is not subject to coercion, cannot be snuffed away as an idealist demand, the left cannot be chided for this demand. When the Prime Minister and the US ambassador, plead with the country to make the most of the opportunity that presents itself, the opportunity being that Bush is the friendliest US president that India has seen, they seem to miss the point. Bush could very well go down in world history as the worst US president ever. Does India wish to seek a strong association with a US president, who clearly is very unpopular in his home country. As of May 2007, Bush's approval ratings had dropped to 28% .
However as was stated earlier all is not black and white, while an independent foreign policy is definitely desired, our foreign policy has definitely to reflect the political strategy India has in place to keep a rising China in check. If China is to become the sole superpower in Asia, then it will affect our dealing with not Beijing alone, but with Islamabad as well. Negotiations, ranging from border disputes to criminal extradition will become more difficult. Backing out of the nuclear deal, will be a missed opportunity to join the club of countries that control nuclear trade and technology in the world. The nuclear deal could strengthen trade ties with many developed nations, not only in the nuclear arena but in others as well. This will indirectly help in giving the country a push towards becoming a developed nation faster. It bodes well for India to be seen as China's equal.
The situation is not such that a stand can be taken easily, both sides, the Congress as well as the left, have perfectly valid reasons for their particular stands. The BJP makes a fool of itself when it opposes the agreement for foreign policy reasons, for it was during their governance that the tone for greater coooperation with the United States was first set. Extended debates among the political community will be needed to decide which is the course best suited for the country. Just like any sovereign country, both America and China will put their interests first ahead of India's. In the same vein the sovereign state of India has to decide based on what serves it's interests the best.

India, 60......Bharat, 5000

For a civilisation whose recorded history dates back atleast 5000 years, of what prominence is a miniscule figure as 60. In modern history, it symbolises the triumph of our brave freedom fighters who delivered independence to the nation. (In an age where sport is war, the victory of our cricket team at England over our past colonisers, couldn't have come at a more apt time, it tastes sweet).
With due respect to the past, more time has to be spent dwelling upon the future and the course that India takes. The country is announcing it's presence in the global arena, and there is a tacit recognition of it's importance. However, back at home, in the villages and cities, in the plains and valleys of this beautiful country, where we define what being an Indian is, is where we need to introspect and build a stronger country.
The congratulatory tones("India rising", "The sleeping giant awakens..") that surround us, hide from us the fact that we still remain a country grappling with social issues which affects millions. The run up to Aug 15, has not been pleasant. Light was shed upon the huge prevalence of female foeticide and infanticide in many parts of the country. Secularism doesn't look threatened, but religious intolerance among the majority and the minorities seems to be on the rise. The rains that wreaked havoc across the country, left villages stranded for days on end. It is ironic that we lose lives both to drought and rain. Politicians were landing blows on each other at a meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, hardly a sign of a civilised democracy. Little children still try and make a living at traffic intersections of cities either through a display of acrobatics or by selling small items.
While the world begins to take notice of Indians and treat them with more respect than they commanded earlier, we should be reminded that our house is not in order yet. We still have a long way to go. Independence as an ideal is yet to be understood by a majority in the country, a majority that struggles to make a livelihood, a majority that is marginalised, a majority that lives without the hope of opportunity. Our celebrations of Independence will be even more joyous when we have saved every single child in the country from the clutches of hunger and child labour, when we have built an environment where the gender of the child will not affect her/his survival, when honest hard working individuals are suitably rewarded, when every Indian attains the right to a life of dignity and respect, irrespective of caste and creed.

The 12th President

The Congress and it's allies have created history by giving India her first lady president. This contribution will be trumpeted many a time in the years to come, however at all debates that would question the merit of the appointment ,we will most definitely see the trumpeteers slip into the shadows. Much has been written in the media against her as a nominee, the criminal culpability of both her husband and her brother, the siphoning of funds of the banks that she governed which were led to bankruptcy, her ability to have conversations with the departed.............The allegations are far too many and it does raise doubts about her credibility. But, for all that has been said, the nation has to accept her as the President. The media understands this, and acts in propriety. The public will compare her to her able predecessor, it is inescapable. But for all the compraisons that we would like to draw, a fine line should be drawn as to its limits. If it were to slip beyond comparison and into the realms of accusation, it would be unacceprtable. The Supreme Commander has to be respected, whether the bearer of the post deserves it or not.

A financial declaration

Here are the figures:

2004

Cash: Rs 1.50 lakh
Bank deposits: Rs 9.78 crore
Other investments: Rs 30.94 lakh
Buildings: Rs 1.25 crore

2007

Cash: Rs 50.27 lakh
Bank deposits: Rs 12.88 crore
Other investments: Rs 50.87 lakh
Property: Rs 36.84 crore

If these figures were the summary of the financial statement of a company, then this company would be doing well for itself. Within 3 years it's asset value has increased 400%. But this is no company we're talking about. This is the declaration of Mayawati in the mentioned years, declared prior to the general and council elections respectively.

The latest declaration comes at a time when she has a CBI case of disproportionate assets against her, involving just half the declared figure(Rs. 28 crore). When seen in that light the audacity of the declaration seems more pronounced. However do not rush to assume that Mayawati is inviting trouble home. She is a seasoned politician(read corrupt, manipulative individual), she has played her cards well. The Congress at the centre needs her now, her support was crucial for the success of the UNPA candidate at the presidential elections. And to retain that support, the Congress will keep the CBI on a leash.

As of now the people have no option but to helplessly watch the swindling of public money and the temerity of our politicians to declare it.

India, the last 30 days

Settling down in the country after a long trip away from home has taken it's time and the blog thus has seen no new entries for a while. A lot has happened in the past one month, a quick round up follows:

• Most recently, the search for a presidential candidate seems to have ended with no political consensus between the NDA, UPA and the so-called Third Front. Not that a consensus is any indication of a positive democracy, but rather it only brings to the fore a pitiable statistic, the absolute poverty of strong political leadership in the country. As names were floated, Indians were reminded that there existed no single leader today who could capture the imagination of the country. Not one leader of stature whom the country could look up to.
• Caste related reservation woes continue to haunt the country. The Gurjar, Meena clashes with the state of Rajasthan not only paralysed the state for a few days, it was brought to the doorstep of Delhi. Unimaginative politicians promise more reservations, instead of addressing the root concerns of these communities, which is plainly put an assurance of a rise in their economic status.
  
• VS Achutanandan's demolition drive in Munnar, Kerala seems to hit rough waters with his decision to overlook religious institutions and political party offices that have encroached upon government land. The popular CM is now subject to public suspicion.
• Cyclone Gonu seems to have stolen some of the thunder from the monsoons. Weather forecasters wait with bated breath for any signs of an improvement. A drought will definitely affect the economy, which has posted a commendable 9.2% growth over last year.
• Mayawati has broken the 15 year spell of coalition politics in UP. The BSP rode to power as the largest party capable of forming a government. The rest of the country can now only pray that this time around she does not sell the Taj Mahal.
  

US and yoga

Being the most powerful country in the world is easy, becoming one is the hard part. And hence the American ignorance of world culture and it's related obsession with absurdity continues. The latest in the line is it's patenting of certain poses in yoga. Under what moral/legal/intellectual/spiritual authority can the US patent yoga, a system that is India's gift to the world. A system of exercises that aims to promote greater control over the mind and body, yoga dates back to at least 5000 years in Indian tradition. The philosophy of yoga embodies the Indian culture's understanding of the human mind and body, through centuries of wisdom.
But in the 21st century a country whose history is a fraction of the entire lifetime of yoga, who has in no means contributed to the development of yoga's philosophy, issues copyrights on the practice of yoga. Ludicrous indeed!

Congress and dynasty

India's oldest political party, the Congress, still continues to function as a monarchy. Regretful indeed was the moment, when the Prime Minister of the country while campaigning for a scion of the Nehru family, called him the "future of UP". That an individual whose accomplishments in life are based solely on merit would fall prey to the archaic ideology of dynasty politics is hard to swallow. Most definitely while the words were spoken by Dr. Manmohan Singh, they would have been ideated by the Nehru family itself. Rahul Gandhi, the "future" so to speak, has delivered only one address(from a prepared text) in the parliament, after being elected 3 years ago. Newsweek further insults India's functioning democracy, by addressing Mr. Gandhi as "India's Crown Prince". It would do well for the top leaders of Congress to rethink it's ideas about the leadership it constantly bestows upon the Nehru family. The message it sends out to it's party men is anything but democratic.

The Indo-US nuclear deal

India continues to negotiate with the US on the much publicized deal on civilian nuclear cooperation. India's energy needs are real and keeping in mind that our energy requirements are going to increase more than 10-fold in the next four decades we have to develop reliable sources of energy. Nuclear energy is relatively cleaner than other modes of power generation, and with global-warming-related-climate-change already announcing it's arrival, it is imperative on our part to keep in mind environmental factors when we chart out our path towards progress.

If India is to secure the deal, and it has to while maintaining it's autonomy, it will become the first country to secure nuclear cooperation with the US while being a non-signatory to the NPT. The negotiations are however fraught with political land mines, and if we aren't careful enough we may end up sacrificing more than we bargained for. Out of the many, a single case in question would be the "right-of return" policy being dictated by the US, which claims that :
"....the U.S. draft states cooperation will cease if either country feels a situation has arisen which jeopardizes its supreme national interest. In such a situation, there will be a period of consultation between the two sides, followed by the termination of ongoing cooperation. Finally, India will be required to return imported equipment and material — including its nuclear fuel stockpile."

This clause is nothing short of a leash, India could jeopardize US interests by an action as significant as conducting nuclear tests to something as extraneous as forging stronger ties with China. America loves controlling the foreign policies of other countries, especially those with strategic importance. It's records in the middle east and in eastern Europe confirm the same.

The current deal necessitates India's cooperation in "containing and constraining" Iran. Much against our will we were forced to vote against Iran in the UN when sanctions were declared against it, we should not put ourselves in the same position again. India's relations with Iran or any other country should be based on our past history (through 5000 years of civilization many people have migrated from the middle east into our country to call it home) and on our national interests. We should make sure we do not leave our foreign policy open to influence by a hegemonistic America, that would weaken India's claim to being a true global leader in the near future.

Further reading :
Article on The Hindu
Hyde Act analysis

The Indian MP - Master of Perjury

I am filled with an absolute disgust for the political class that currently occupy the seats of power in the country. The word "politician" is today synonymous with scams, scandal, abuse of power and every other immoral activity possible. It is not surprising that a recent nation wide survey by Outlook, revealed that 76% of the respondents felt that Indian politicians had given democracy a bad name.
This popular sentiment was further reinforced when a Member of Parliament(MP), a BJP legislator called Babubhai Katara, was arrested on Wednesday, Apr 18 while trying to smuggle a lady and a boy to Canada, on the passports of his wife and son. The lady is supposed to have paid Rs. 30 lakh to the legislator. Even worse, he has a past history of smuggling people out of the country, it's just that his luck ran out this time. It is a blatant abuse of the diplomatic passports that have been issued to him and his family. The BJP has dropped him like a hot potato, an expulsion seems guaranteed. But don't be mistaken, the party's actions have more to do with saving it's face, than with a high moral standing. If they had to expel him, they should have done so much earlier, when cases of loot, murder and election fraud were filed against him.
When legislators take their seat for the first time they are required to take an oath, which goes:
"I, .., having been elected (or nominated) a member of the Council of States do swear in the name of God, I solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter."
Either our MPs have realized the truth about God or they have no respect for the nation's constitution and her people, for the oath that they take is null and void.

Why Americans think India is important

I found this article on the American Foreign Policy Research Institute(www.fpri.org) website. Its an excellent article exploring Indo-American relations. But what struck me was the the author's explanation of six terms in our preamble, 'We, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC ....................'

Its slightly lengthy, but fills one with pride, in the vision of our nation founders to safeguard the interests of our people, and consequently in our potential to become a great nation.

http://www.fpri.org/footnotes/113.200606.embree.indiaimportant.html

Reservation woes

The Supreme Court has stayed the the government's bill providing OBC sections with 27% reservation in premier institutions like the IITs and IIMs. The union government in response has declared it's commitment to social justice and that there will be no compromise. The words ring hollow. Karunanidhi cries that the verdict is shocking, and goes on to declare a state wide bundh. He declared it a success as well, most definitely succeeded in affecting the state's economy for a day, not to mention the undue trouble caused to over 10 lakh commuters using the public transport.
The Supreme Court decision is apt and does indeed question the government's standing on this issue. Some notable quotes from the verdict which slam the government:

"Nowhere else in the world is there competition to assert backwardness and then to claim we are more backward than you. This truth was recognised as an unhappy and disturbing situation and such situation was noted by this court as a stark reality in Indra Sawhney's case [Mandal case]."

"It has also to be noted that nowhere else in the world do castes, classes or communities queue up for the sake of gaining backward status."

"the reservation policy cannot be and should not be intended to be permanent or perpetuate backwardness."

"Equality of opportunity depends not only on absence of disabilities but on presence of abilities"

It is true that we have a serious issue at hand, and that being the backward classes(SC/ST and OBCs) are yet to become an integral part of our society, and in fact still continue to be marginalised. It's a shame that our HRD minister, Arjun Singh, comes up with further reservation policies to address this issue. The government has no clear solution, and the reservation card is just a move in the game of vote-bank politics. What is the point in reserving an IIT seat for an individual, when the government has ignored his basic education? The quality of education provided at government schools throughout the country is outright pathetic, students remain ill-equipped to compete with their counterparts studying in private schools. The students for whom these seats are reserved for will never seat them, instead the financially affluent among the backward classes(being able to send their children to private schools) will remain the sole benefactors.
The solution is 2-pronged, we first need to improve our government schools. The issue of improving the conditions of lower castes is invariably linked to their poverty. The government has to ensure quality primary and secondary education to the poor. That itself will put them on par with the general category of students. Second, reservation at educational institutes should be based on the financial situation of applicants. A visible time-limit will have to be set, to discontinue the reservation mechanism.
But our politicians remain more bothered about retaining power than inking innovative solutions to the problems that the country faces. So this may not be the last that we hear of the reservation issue, I am sure it will be dragged into the nation's view again, and our shameless politicians will milk the issue to the very last drop.

Gujarat

Frontline calls it the hit list, a list of individuals and organsations under threat from forces within Gujarat.

"MEDHA PATKAR, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader, is attacked every time she enters Gujarat. The last time this happened was at a peace meeting in Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, during the communal riots in 2002. The NBA office in Vadodara has been ransacked several times.

Mrinalini Sarabhai, dancer, was forced to withdraw her signature from an NBA petition. Her daughter, Mallika Sarabhai, dancer, has been harassed for speaking out against the communal violence.

Ramdhan, Scheduled Caste/Schedule Tribe Commission chairperson, was attacked when he visited the Narmada dam site some years ago.

Painter M.F. Husain's gallery, in a cave in Ahmedabad, has been attacked twice and his works have been destroyed.

Citizen's Initiative, an alliance of organisations that was involved in relief and rehabilitation after the communal violence in 2002, was threatened, had its phones tapped and its offices raided, and some of its camp organisers were even arrested.

Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a collective of unorganised women workers, was harassed and government aid was cut because a large number of its members were Muslim.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a human rights organisation supporting witnesses in court, receives constant threats. Acid bottles were flung into the house of the project coordinator in Vadodara, and later it was broken into and all legal papers were stolen. Yet, the police have done nothing and refuse to provide protection.

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan's films Rang De Basanti and Fanaa were not screened in Gujarat because the Bajrang Dal threatened violence. Khan incurred the wrath of the Sangh Parivar because he supported the NBA. Students who went to Mumbai to see Fanaa were beaten up when they returned to Gujarat.

Dia Mirza, Bollywood actor, was hurriedly rushed out of Rajkot because she supported Aamir Khan's stand on the Narmada issue."

Do we have a fascist state within our nation?

Maoist threat

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently declared that "the greatest single threat to 'India's security' were the Maoist-led guerrilla armies and mass movements in the poorest parts of the country". The statement did not generate any discussion in popular media and I would assume most of the populace wouldn't have considered the statement worthy of dissection.
A separate statistic would help to understand the gravity of the situation better. The total number of districts in the country is 602. In the 1990s, the number of districts affected by Maoist violence stood at 15. In 15 years the number has risen exponentially, today the number of districts under some kind of Maoist influence stands at 170. Previously Indians could afford to ignore the Maoist issue as a remote problem, but with over one-fourth of the country experiencing Maoist influences it is about time the average Indian sat up and took notice.
The reason Maoist rebels have been able to grow so rapidly is directly related to India's failure in addressing the widespread poverty that afflicts the country. Mass movements that threaten to overthrow the existing establishment will always appeal to those who have been neglected by it. It should be noted that people would enroll within the cadres of these guerrilla armies, not essentially because they would subscribe to the ideologies of these nihilistic organizations, but only with the hope that such a cause may bring a better tomorrow.
The government's knee-jerk response to incidents of Maoist violence, like the recent attack on a police outpost in Chhattisgarh killing 55 people; the assasination of an MP Sunil Mahato, has been has been to deploy security forces to contain the violence. If only successive governments had done a better job, this issue wouldn't have crossed the seas and arrive at our doorstep. To combat violence with violence, is only a temporary solution and does not address deeper issues. Policies which address the economic inequality of the population will take us a longer way in resolving the Maoist violence.

The Indian cricketer, unworthy of high regard!

The world cup is here, and India plays its first game this Saturday. The whole nation flips back and forth pondering over the chances of India's success. Thoughts abound on game strategies, cricket is religion and the players are gods. Speaking of which the question arises, do these cricketers truly deserve their demi-god status?
Being a great player on a field is one thing, but true greatness is measured by one's actions off the field. The players that I hold great respect for include-

• Imran Khan, lost his mother to cancer in 1984. Cancer was known as a rich-man's disease in Pakistan. During that time, Imran was witness to the lack of specialist treatment available to the poor. 10 years later, he founded the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, a charitable institution that serves the poor.
  
• Steve Waugh, his association with Udayan, a home for children who come from Calcutta's leprosy colonies. Since 1998 he holds a special relationship with the kids at Udayan, known as Steveda among them.

Now these players weren't merely leaders of men on the field, they exemplified this skill in their personal lives as well.

In stark contrast, I am yet to hear of an Indian player who has lent his name to a social cause. The "god" Tendulkar is more famous for his evasion of a 120% duty on his Ferrari. Aren't men like him supposed to be guided by principle? I am yet to hear of Sachin's donations to society, oh yes! I have heard of him donating bats, pads and the like. But could anyone bring to my notice any mention in the media about Sachin parting with generous amounts of his wealth for charitable causes? The same goes for every other popular player in the country. There is no shortage for social issues in India, from killer diseases like AIDS to female infanticide, issues which could be addressed more effectively through awareness. Has any cricketer stepped forward with dedicated and prolonged commitment to a single social cause? The popular Indian cricketer has one ready formula, he'll play charity matches, it's easy and baggage free.

All our successes hold a greater value because they are bestowed upon us by society, especially in the case of social figures(politicians and players alike). It is every successful man's moral responsibility to return to the people, by virtue of sharing his wealth or by lending his voice to social causes. It is an obligation, payback for the rewards society confers upon them.

While a hollow sense of satisfaction would be achieved by saving Rs 1.13 crore, the legitimate joy that one would experience with the knowledge that despite all their patriotism 300 children in Calcutta would be cheering for you when on the field,....immeasurable.