Helpless

"RTE is the tryst with destiny in the education sector"-Kapil sibal

With above words we added a fundamental right to the constitution and civics books. I don't know about all the fundamental rights but one that is commonly used or should i say abused is the right to freedom of speech and expression, an example of which we saw in yesterday's hugely "successful" bharath bandh. By the way did you participate in the bandh? I dint because all i needed was a holiday.

Coming to the point of this post, RTE provides free education to children between the age 6 and 14.

According to the right any child between the said age group if found not going to school or working during the school hours becomes a violation of the act and is illegal. we can complain to concerned local authority which will ensure that the child goes to school.

{For complete information on RTE check out this brilliant article here}

There is this girl who is 8 years old who comes along with our domestic help( Honestly called maid) and helps in cleaning the home. When asked whether she goes to school, she said she used to but now she isn't. On further questioning i got to know why she doesn't, her story makes me feel that RTE does not help in her case.

This girl is the granddaughter of our maid's elder sister, she used to live in village with her parents but her father who was unable to look after her sent her to the city(Hyderabad) to stay with her grandmother. After coming to the city she started going to school for a few months but then her grandmother had to go to a different city so she decided to hand over the responsibility to her sister. (Our maid) Now the girl has stopped going to school since our maid does not want to pay for her school. Even though government gives free education still there are additional expenses which need to be taken care of.

So instead of sitting idle in her home she also comes to our home and helps in cleaning.

Now the question arises what does RTE does in this case? Kapil sibal had made it clear that it is our responsibility to make sure that all children around us go to school. But what can we do when parents do not want to send their child to school?? This girl's father now wants her to come to village and he does not want her to go to school!!

Government through RTE provides free education until 8th class but then in this case it cant do anything. I feel helpless in this situation and also feel responsible in some way because we are letting a child work in our home.

I am optimistic that RTE will help many children go to school which is where they should be.

"Catogorisation of cities"

After weeks of no activity on this blog,I have decided to write something. Its been a Non-eventful last 2 weeks in my life where i was away from the virtual world. It was kind of nice to be away from internet. I realised that i am not a addict to the virtual world but that doesn't mean that i din't miss any of the social networking sites,mails,Forums,blogs etc

I was in my village for a week and it was strange that i was thinking on different topics on which i can write on my blog,rather than enjoying the peace and silence which you feel in a rural place compared to noisy fast paced life of a city. Thinking of city i do not like the way our cities are divided into clusters and named Tier1,Tier2 etc

This divides our cities and it is as harmful as caste division, the only difference is that the affects of this divide are not there for everyone to see.

I am sure people living in so called "Tier2/3" cities know what i am talking about. I did my engineering in a region which was considered as "Backward region" and hence you hardly had any companies coming for the Prestigious campus placements!

This is the reason why you see many people going to cities and overcrowding them.

But can we blame the herd?? People go where opportunities exist.

I don't need to provide facts indicating the rising population in metropolitan cities. It is for everyone to see.( If you are numbers conscious then just google and find out!)

Be it Mumbai-Financial capital of India,Benguluru-IT capital,Hyderabad-IT hub etc

These cities are overcrowded and hence are also a easy target for Terrorists!!

I come from a place called Gulbarga in northern karnataka region which is considered "Backward". There are many Engineering graduates and highly successful people which my city has produced but not even one wants to work for the development of their city!!

All of them just complete their education and get settled in the famous cities.

What does Government do? Karnataka government invites investment from companies across the world. These companies are set up in the same cities which are polluted with all kinds of companies. What does gulbarga have? Only a Mill which has stopped working! There are thousands of cities like "gulbarga" in our country but no one wants to work for the development of them.

It is sad that you can have a Multiplex in Gulbarga but not companies,factories etc

What needs to be done to develop these cities?

1] Create Job opportunities so that people do not migrate to other cities.

2] Encourage Entrepreuners to invest in these cities.

3] Improve the level of education in these cities.

When the ex chief minister of karnataka Dharam singh( now a MP) was asked what would he do for Hyderabad karnataka region under which Gulbarga comes.

He said i would make "Jewargi" (a town near Gulbarga) singapore of india!

Another false promise by a Indian politician.

These cities need not be made singapore, these should be made self reliant.

We should focus on Inclusive growth not Exclusive.

"Role of Idiot box"

Television in our country or for that matter across the world plays a very important role as a Medium for Entertainment,News etc. In our country the quality of the Television industry has gradually degraded over the decades. Just the other day i was reading a article which highlighted the great TV serials on Doordarshan when there was only one channel on the "Idiot box".

But now there are numerous channels and now we have a ministry to look after it!! (Information and broadcasting ministry).

But the point is whether TV is only for entertainment or can it be used for Educating people in various fields as well!! Media,especially electronic is so focussed on Breaking news philosophy that they have become news makers rather than news presenters!!

TV world has to understand the power of the medium and do more in bringing sense to the people rather than having 40 sec commercials on projects like Save tiger campaign.

Not that the commercials showcasing such projects are not required,but something more has to be done,we cant just have advertisements.

Media should have active debates on the the issues prevalent to the nation and lead the campaigns to bring along a change in the country. Sadly very few media houses play this role barring a few like NDTV and CNN-IBN.

One clear example which showcases the irresponsibility out industry is that, only foreign channels( Fox history,Discovery) showcase shows on the History,diversity of india but not even one show is showed by indian channels!! why do we need others to show,what we can do better after all we are the citizens of this country.( Not that others showing our country's history and diversity is bad!!)

There has to be new concepts which need to be implemented and one such is the new show which is being aired on Sony channel "Lift kara dey" which is a very new and wonderful concept. It brings together the stars,fans and the poor in a good way.

It is a Win-Win situation for everyone,fans get to meet their favorite star and whatever amount they earn in the competition is multiplied by a huge factor and the amount is given to poor by the stars. Such a noble concept!! But there is only one small problem which i have with the serial,

I know they try to make it more emotional since India runs with emotion and in that way the serial gets more TRP's. The kind of music or the atmosphere which they create when some poor people come into it is too much!! The fact that they are helping is great but why should they be shown in such a sorry state. We should not feel sorry for them,we should be happy that we are helping them!! Yes I agree they are in a very bad state but feeling more sorry for them will only make them realise their poorness. We should make them feel proud for what they are!!

Anyway thats a small change which is needed in the show,otherwise it is a excellent show!!

Kudos to the person who came up with the concept and of course karan johar as well.

What we call as Idiot box should be a medium which brings a positive change rather than a Negative change!!

"Feminine Power"

It is amazing how much literary talent our country has!! The op-ed pages of our National Newspaper "The Hindu" have always got a good response from the readers. Few days back,to be precise on 31st jan 2010,there was a article written by Seema kini a housewife which was thought provoking and made me realise the importance of the role of a Mother in present generation.

Here is the link of that article.

http://www.thehindu.com/op/2010/01/31/stories/2010013150071200.htm

She signifies the role of a mother in the present generation where there is not much difference in the genders. Women are in every field and possibly can achieve as much as a man does,if not more!! She realised that she had to give time to her young son and hence she left the job and spent more time with her family.

The article has been getting a great response and the letters sent to the editor are also something to ponder on!!

In my view, it is not only what a Mother thinks but also what family does. In today's world it is not uncommon to see working mother's but still there are many orthodox families who do not encourage women to be a shareholder in family income.

Now coming to the point where a mother is working,then i am in a better position to express the views since my mother has been working ever since i had opened my eyes in this enormous world. I remember a lot of memories shared with my mother in my young age but the single memory which stands out is the "Idiot box". I have all my life watched the television and wasted most of the precious time of growing up. If my mother like the author of the above article had given up her job and had only one objective of raising me then i am sure i would have been a lot different than what i am now,Obviously in a good sense!!

I cannot blame my mother since she had her own reasons to continue doing her job.

For some families it is a necessity that a Women works and increases the family income but for most of the well to do families who have a choice,there comes this concept of the gender bias.

Such women feel that if they dont work they would be acting as second fiddle all their life!!

What I dont understand why is that women have to show to the world that they are equal to men??

Why do they have to show their superiority??

I feel women are great,they are the one's who give birth to us and should always be respected no matter what they do,be it home maker or a CEO of a company!!!

The problem lies in the social stigma associated with the respect shown towards women generally!! Our today's world does not respect the women for what they are. There are many reasons for it. Be it the way women are shown in the television serials and movies. They are either shown crying or super women who can do anything for a family!!

Why cant they show women in a normal way?? Is it difficult??

It should be realised that the growing up age of children is very important and it is important for the parents to impart moral and ethical values to children from a young age and help them nourish their dreams and help them achieve them,Mothers are better equipped to do that since they are more caring than Men!!

One more very interesting point raised by the author is that why is GDP always calculated on the basis of the economic returns of the country why not on family,health,love,memories!!

There is really a problem on how GDP is calculated in the world,only based on Money!!

Even Nicolas sarkozy the French president feels that GDP should be calculated in a different way,but obviously he does not share our views. Here is the link reporting that.

http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/09/french-president-nicolas-sarkozy-gdp-is-inadequate-for-measuring-economic-health/

See I started the Post writing about women/mothers and at last i finish at GDP..See how women influence the GDP of a country!!