Unveiling a thought of mine on the Independence Day

I would like to unveil a thought which was there in my mind for a long time, on this Independence Day.

It is regarding the Indian weddings. A minute of thinking can enlighten you on the money, even an average Indian middle class family, spends on a wedding. Right from consulting as many number of astrologers in town as possible (just to confuse us more) to expensive invitation cards (which anyways goes to the thrash once the date is noted on the calendar) to huge wedding halls (just to increase the electrical power requirement) to professional cameramen to video shoot the entire ceremony (to see and re-see the same events and get bored some day) to sumptuous food (which cannot be eaten by most) and the list goes on. All these expenses just for a matter of five to six hours. And mind me, this may cost a family a lakh or even more, on a minimal lower estimate. Also do not forget the fact that I have not included the major expense of the present day wedding - the Gold! The Gold Rush! Isn't this a bit too much? 

Just because the wedding is a once in a lifetime affair, is so much spending really needed? Can spending so much on an event even be justified? I could not understand why people are not just ready to shed their prejudice and go ahead with a simple ceremony, which a wedding is actually supposed to be. 

Why can't we, the youth, take a firm decision that our weddings and the weddings of our close relatives and friends shall be conducted in a very simple manner? 

I have a definition to this 'simple' wedding I say. Many may reject my view, many may find it preposterous. I am not forcing anyone to adopt this either. But I am sure, my wedding will be in this manner.


Why can't a wedding ceremony be conducted in a temple or a mosque or a church, in presence of just the bride, the bridegroom and both their parents. After the ring or the 'maala' exchange let them go back home, have a good home made lunch and spend the time for themselves. Some day later, let them go to each and every relatives' houses with a box of sweets and spend some time with all of them. This would be a herculean task, but it has its own advantages. This will help the bride or bridegroom understand the family better rather than shaking hands with all the people coming on the stage, one after the other, just for a minute, then another minute to pose themselves to be be photographed. How silly this is! This system is being followed because it really favours the status-quo - this materialistic world, where each minute is worth some Rupees. Just for the sake of it we have all our relatives and friends on the stage on a day and get a photograph clicked (as if for a proof of attendance). 


If a wedding is a once in a lifetime affair and we value it so much, then why do people hesitate to spend some days for it, rather than just some hours? 


This can save huge burden, energy and money and the saved money can be used for charity (if one chooses to). The money we spend in a wedding, if received by a poor family, would be enough to carry out all their expenses for a quarter year or even more. This will include their expenses from food to dress to children's education to travel and what not. Think it over friends, it is we, the youth alone, who can change this system.

We have the energy within us, the will is all what we need. 

Jai Hind!

A Piece on Corruption

Corruption and abuse of power is deep rooted in our nation. Way back in 4^th century BC itself Kautilya’s Arthashastra had given detailed description of the duties of the heads of states, various forms of corruption and the punishments for the crime.  This is clear evidence that corruption was prevalent even in those ages. Kautilya points out how these practices were rampant amongst the administrative officers and the law enforcers. The only major difference that prevails between now and then is that at those ages we had strong laws which were strictly enforced by the kings and well abided by the citizens due to fear of harsh punishments for embezzlement which even included murder. Presently there are laws but are limited to the books. In practice it hardly punishes the corrupt. And even if it does, it is either too less a punishment for the committed crime or is much delayed. Corruption has an enormous impact on the social, economic and political fabric of a nation, eventually disempowering the state.  It provides a free run for the rich who can afford to pay bribes and get their things done speedily, whereas hits hard at the people who cannot afford to pay the bribes. Corruption often leads to criminalization of politics and politicization of crime thereby affecting the political structure of the nation. Transparency International’s survey ranked India at the 95^th position in the list of nations in overall extent of graft. On corruption perception index, India scored 3.1 on a scale from zero to 10, where anything below five is bad news.

Indians, in the past couple of years have been witnessing a galore of scams like the 2G, CWG, Adarsh, revelations on black money, etc. The CWG scam came at a time when the people in the nation were elated seeing the expansion of the Delhi metro, construction of new fly overs, widening of existing roads and beautification of the city. We were proud that we were the hosts to the games. Newspapers were filled with articles and advertisements sensitizing people on basics of civic sense, how to treat foreign nationals, etc. The means of corruption and figures truly let down the people and made them feel ashamed. A treadmill was rented at Rs. 9.75 lakh for 45 days when one could be bought for half the price. Liquid soap was quoted at Rs. 3397 per unit when the same was available in the market at Rs. 460. The way in which the parties involved fudged contracts and manipulated the prices further distressed the people. This showed how the Organizing Committee was not answerable to any one and carried out the malpractices easily. The 2G scam which succeeded the CWG came as another shock to all. The scale of money involved fetched it the tag of India’s biggest scam ever. The DMK’s interest in the issuing of telecom licenses to companies they favoured was clear here. This was carried out right under the nose of the head of our government. It did not take much time for the Adarsh scam to be revealed. It involved the top brass of bureaucracy and military alongside the top politicians including the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The expose regarding the black money of many Indians stashed abroad in the Swiss banks brought much more shame. Estimates revealed that India has $1,456 bn in these banks. The amount if bought back to our nation can liquidate the entire debt of the nation, provide tax free budgets for the next 30 years and also can give Rs. 2.5 lakh per family. The government has not even revealed the names of those persons who have such accounts abroad. Kautilya had an interesting take on the money stashed in another kingdom. He says “Whoever is niggardly in spite of his immense property , hordes in his own house, deposits with citizens or people of his country, or sends out to foreign countries – a spy shall find out more about his income and expenditure as well as who the advisers, friends, servants, relations, partisans of such a niggardly person are. Whoever in a foreign country carries out the work the work of such a niggardly person shall be prevailed upon to give out the secret. When the secret is known, the niggardly person shall be murdered apparently under the orders of his avowed enemy”.

Why is it that India still lags behind in fighting corruption? Political will to curb corruption is most needed. We need a good mechanism too. The mechanism that prevails is limited to the Central Vigilance Commission at the centre. It handles cases against senior officials and has substantial independence. But the problem is that the CVC acts just like an advisory body. All government departments also have a Chief Vigilance Officer. Here the appointments are often delayed and the officer appointed to this post often handles vigilance part time which reduces his efficiency in both works. The Right to Information (RTI) has been a blessing in terms of exposing various crimes but this again can only bring out the data and put pressure on the government. Once the data is known by filing an RTI, what does an individual do?

For curbing corruption we need the right laws and we will also need to educate the people to have the right attitude and understand how the cancer of corruption is affecting the nation. Corporate donations to political parties were banned and this made corporates to make payments covertly for economic favours. Though the ban was lifted in 2003, the corporate and the political parties found it better to make and receive payments covertly. This has rotten our democracy too.

People should understand that bribing is not an investment which gives one a moral right to expect a return through more corruption. The Lokpal Bill if passed will be a tuff law which will, to a great extent stem corruption. The CBI should be made free and independent so that the ruling governments do not use it to silent the opposition. The Lokayuktas should be installed in all states so that the common man in any part of the nation can get speedy justice. The judiciary also needs a revamp. There are around 2.5crore cases pending in the lower courts, 37lakhs in the High Courts and 4600 in the Supreme Court. India has just 12,000 judges for a population of 1.2 billion, which means one judge should look after 8572 people’s cases. This is the reason for the delayed justice which is equivalent to justice being denied. Once all this starts happening, the new entrants into the powerful sectors will be aware of the dire consequences they will have to face.

Coalition+Weak Centre+Bad Governance

A weak Central government is what India is having now and it is sure that no one would have second thoughts on this. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), both major national parties, do not have the required numbers to form a government in the Centre. They are forced to form a coalition government by obvious softening of stands. The present UPA II has been slammed from the left, right and centre for their inefficiency in tackling inflation, corruption and policy paralysis. Only two major schemes namely the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Unique Identification Number (UID) were implemented. The latter one again has raised serious questions about the money involved in it and the scheme’s effectiveness itself. Major bills like the Lokpal and the FDI had to be stowed due to lack of support from its own allies. The Centre has been running from pillar to post for gaining credibility and to sustain the government at least till the 2014 polls. In this process of tireless running it often gives in to most of the states’ demands. The demands however are not small - Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh all asking for a moratorium of the state debts. The Centre is seen heeding to most of them! Are these really necessary? 

Punjab’s SAD’s election manifesto promises included free laptops with data card for children, plots for landless, provident fund for farmers, unemployment allowances, etc. – the implementation of all these costing Rs.10,000crore, this is in addition to the total state expenditure of Rs. 50,883crore. The new annual expenditure thus has increased than the preceding year’s by a whopping 28%, largely due to the rising bills of salary, pension, subsidies, etc. Subsidies alone cost the state Rs.7000crore. Soon after the elections, Prakash Singh Badal did not have second thoughts in appointing 21 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs), the highest number appointed ever. Each CPS being allotted an official red beacon car with unlimited fuel, a four bedroom house – whose estimated monthly rent would amount to Rs. 75,000, monthly emoluments worth Rs. 60,000 and an annual out-of-state travel allowance of Rs. 2,00,000. And now he CM asks for a waiver of all small saving loans worth Rs. 22,202crore and a moratorium on repayment of Central loans.

The always unpredictable West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee too has asked for a bailout of the debt bequeathed by the Left Government, which amounts to just Rs.2.3 lakh crore. Without losing the golden opportunity, the newly elected young CM of Uttar Pradesh too has asked for a bailout of Central loans amounting to Rs. 2 lakh crore. 

A weak Centre heeding to all these unreasonable demands is a very sad sight. Hope we get a good, strong, stern and development oriented government at the Centre soon.