ANNA's MISTAKE

We all know Anna is doing a fast-unto-death.

But, why?

Very few know.

He is fasting against govt. version of bill.

So, what exactly is govt. version of bill?

Alas! there isn’t any govt. finalised bill yet. It is still in the process of preparing a bill. Yes, govt. has released a tentative bill, against which Anna’s team has reservations.

Right or wrong reservations? I don’t know. I’m not equipped enough to explain or understand nitty-gritty of Govt. Lokpal version and Anna’s Lokpal version.

Anna says he has the referendum. Govt. say they have the numbers. Who is right? Is an unaccountable referendum way to go for framing a legislation? If that the case, then would ever uplifting of harijans ever been possible by our caste-centric society. No!

Agree or Disagree with legislation, right or wrong our legalisation's may be, honest or dishonest our parliamentarians may be, effective or ineffective our parliament system may be, one thing for sure, it is this system which has brought stability and a mechanism for functioning in our country. True, today it is rotten with corruption. We need quick measures to check them. But, need to understand at the cost of what? At least not at the cost of overturning basic foundation of a democracy, i.e, Parliament

What is the solution?

First, govt. can’t simply impose a legislation. It proposes a draft. Then the draft goes to parliamentary committee. Parliamentary committee then reaches out to general public to gets their views, conducts surveys, etc and finally tables a bill in Parliament. This bill then has to go through both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha before it becomes a law. If required any house can send it back to parliamentary committee to do further study/research. Can a parliamentary committee draft a bill which Jokepal? And at same time evade 24/7 media focus?

Anna needs to understand that Jan Lokpal Bill cannot be the bill proposed by his team. And he shouldn’t discredit other bill as Jokepal. It would be a direct insult to parliament functionary. Anna should have waited for Parliamentary committee to be formed. Expressed his views. In stead he is doing “My way or a High-way.” Pass our bill or I would fast-unto-death. Unfortunate indeed. Co-operate and negotiate, it is our govt. Non-cooperation would only hinder the progress but never a solution for a democratic country.

ANNA's MISTAKE

We all know Anna is doing a fast-unto-death.

But, why?

Very few know.

He is fasting against govt. version of bill.

So, what exactly is govt. version of bill?

Alas! there isn’t any govt. finalised bill yet. It is still in the process of preparing a bill. Yes, govt. has released a tentative bill, against which Anna’s team has reservations.

Right or wrong reservations? I don’t know. I’m not equipped enough to explain or understand nitty-gritty of Govt. Lokpal version and Anna’s Lokpal version.

Anna says he has the referendum. Govt. say they have the numbers. Who is right? Is an unaccountable referendum way to go for framing a legislation? If that the case, then would ever uplifting of harijans ever been possible by our caste-centric society. No!

Agree or Disagree with legislation, right or wrong our legalisation's may be, honest or dishonest our parliamentarians may be, effective or ineffective our parliament system may be, one thing for sure, it is this system which has brought stability and a mechanism for functioning in our country. True, today it is rotten with corruption. We need quick measures to check them. But, need to understand at the cost of what? At least not at the cost of overturning basic foundation of a democracy, i.e, Parliament

What is the solution?

First, govt. can’t simply impose a legislation. It proposes a draft. Then the draft goes to parliamentary committee. Parliamentary committee then reaches out to general public to gets their views, conducts surveys, etc and finally tables a bill in Parliament. This bill then has to go through both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha before it becomes a law. If required any house can send it back to parliamentary committee to do further study/research. Can a parliamentary committee draft a bill which Jokepal? And at same time evade 24/7 media focus?

Anna needs to understand that Jan Lokpal Bill cannot be the bill proposed by his team. And he shouldn’t discredit other bill as Jokepal. It would be a direct insult to parliament functionary. Anna should have waited for Parliamentary committee to be formed. Expressed his views. In stead he is doing “My way or a High-way.” Pass our bill or I would fast-unto-death. Unfortunate indeed. Co-operate and negotiate, it is our govt. Non-cooperation would only hinder the progress but never a solution for a democratic country.

AN OWN GOAL

My association with tennis is mostly through Federer. I still remember it was during Australian Open 2005. I didn’t know who Federer was. Neither did I know his opponent Marat Safin. It was in final set of that match, I first saw a tennis match. Crowd was going crazy. Safin’s serve was lightning fast and he was dominating. But, I was supporting Federer in that match. He lost it in fifth set, as he slip on match point. Then came French Open. Nadal was in the news, a young man, running high on clay success. Again I was supporting Federer. He lost again. It was then I started watching tennis consistently and hoped Federer would win.

My hope came true. Federer began to win more frequently and soon by next Australian open, I was a Federer Fan who would hate to lose. Things were moving smoothly, he was winning all of the matches, except on clay. Didn’t concern me much in the beginning. But when he lost second final too, I was worried. I was blinded by his rate of success. I must say at some stage I was just keen on his winning, than his brilliance on court.

Then came the worst part, I remember virtually for 4-5 grand slams, I stopped seeing him play in later part of tournaments. I began to be superstitious. I used to blindly follow score line after the point finishes. I used to constantly change the channel and made sure, I wouldn’t be seeing crucial points play. I begin to associate his losing points to my behaviour. It used to get so top of my nerves that it would take 24 hrs to come out of it if Federer wins and 48-72 hrs to come out of it if Federer loses.

Today, when I reflect back my behaviour was laughable. I feel sad that I couldn’t watch his brilliance in those crucial moments. When I see Federer play these days, somehow winning and losing seem to be second for me. I just look out for his artistic majesty. Even today I get disappoint when he loses. But, I can just dust it off with in few minutes. Why all this now! You must be wondering?

I have seen many times we feel wicket would fall if we don’t watch or batsmen would score a four on not watching. In beginning it happens in any random match. It slowly becomes a habit and we slowly stop seeing and enjoying the match as we get more bothered with result. Somehow result takes precedence over game and in most cases we end up doing all insane and foolish acts believing our team would benefit from it.

To all those crazy sports fan don’t score an own-goal as I did. It is a game at the end of the day. Not, a ritual for one to be superstitious. Enjoy each moment of play !

STOP THEM

Prologue: Yesterday I saw two advertisements which were in sharp contrast. First, was from the government advertising on right to education. Second, was from the various schools and colleges of their ability to churn out top results year after year. I shall deal with the latter in this post.

It is that part of the year when news channels are inundated with advertisements of success from all schools and colleges. I have little idea how education system works in various cities and states in India. But, in Andhra Pradesh especially in Hyderabad it sells like hot cakes. Somehow over the years the need for education has drastically changed. Today, education is about percentage secured or getting a seat in IIT’s, NIT’s, other top universities. I’m in no way contemplating against having aspirations to get into IIT’s or NIT’s. But I’m very much concerned with the mad rush for ranks, percentages and marks. Is it really what most of us want? It wasn’t always this way. What has changed in a decade? That today we have children of class six being trained for IIT?

Concept of coaching for IIT was started with an idea to help students in their preparation. It was started by Mr. Ramiah with a noble cause. But, soon it has paved way for others to use it as a business. Today it has blown out to be such a business that I wouldn’t be surprised if five years down the line we have Narayana/ Chaitanya ringing the bell at the coveted Dalal Street. We could be having stock market experts and brokers analysing trends, ups and downs in the education sector. We might have to buy their stocks to get admission into them. Then, their are people on both sides of the coin with regards to justifying coaching styles of Narayana, Chaitanya,..etc. But, can anything justify the ludicrous level primary education system dropped to in our school ?

Class 10th students are forced to sit for extra study hours, late night classes as a preparation for 2-3 months before exams. We all seem to be lamely agreeing with this trend. Time has come to take stringent actions to stop the sale of education. Their should be complete ban on IIT coaching in schools. Schools should use that infrastructure for other purposes like play ground, arts, etc. Schools should be fined and administration should be sentenced for minimum jail terms if found to be taking extra and late night study hours. (Cancelling licenses to schools would be bad option as it would students in perilous situation). Also, check needs to be on number of students per class and total admissions. Explanation should be given by schools for fee they seek. Any hike needs to be informed to govt. with justification before implementation. All the schools need to follow same time-schedule. On the whole govt. needs to play big boss for these private players.

State Govt. of Delhi has taken a measure to address above concerns, by restricting admissions to a school based on locality i.e. preference would be given to students who stay nearer to school. Also some seats would be reserved for needy and govt. would be over-seeing all the admission process. It’s high time for Andhra Pradesh govt. to quell the misadventures schools are dealing in and take appropriate measures to address the low-level primary education has dropped in city.