Nepalese March Towards Democracy

               
                 A noble and virtuous process of drafting constitution is underway in Nepal for the second time after collapse of first Constituent Assembly in 2012. The treacherous path towards full fledged democracy is sewed with insurmountable problems broadly categorized in three segments i.e secularism, electoral process and definition of federalism. The fate of second CA (as was with first CA) hinges on resolution of these contentious issues.

                 Nepal's long march from monarchy to democracy is long. Since the pre-historic period, Nepal has always been known as a Hindu state with 80.6% of its population is Hindu according to 2001 census ,10.3 Buddhists and rest from other religions. The religious identity of Nepal as a Hindu state is being contested by emerging trends for secularism under democratic disposition in the post-1990 period. Vociferous campaigning for secular Nepal is emerging trend among religious minorities,activists  and political parties .The post-1990 politics led to the emergence of communists who are ideologically secular, Nepali Congress – the oldest and influential centrist party shifted its stand from neutral position to secular state. The most peculiar trend is the involvement of certain missionary christian organizations to encourage(provoke) religious activism to declare Nepal not only secular state but decriminalizing conversion to christianity.

               The ulterior objective of declaring Nepal secular can be understood when British Ambassador to Nepal Andy Sparkes wrote an open letter to C A members suggesting "to ensure right to change religion is protected".The irresponsible advice which is directly interference and meddling in internal affairs of Nepal is a blatant violation of diplomatic norms. Encouraging Nepal to adopt secularism isn't confined to isolated incident of UK Ambassador but concerted efforts from different groups is underway.What's intriguing is the difference between preaching and practicing,  Britain is a declared Christian ‘Church of England’, not a Secular state .

              During the unfortunate Nepal earthquake the death and destruction gave orgasmic triumphs for such missionary bigots. There bigotry knows no boundaries as evidently clear in tweets below.

                The hate filled tweets by evangelists even put ordinary christian community to shame. Distress people are in need of food, shelter and medicine while they're out there preaching the Gospel and distributing Bibles and Children's Bible storybooks. The unfortunate truth is the changing demography of Nepal mocking and portrayal of other faiths (Hindu,Buddhists etc.) as regressive and pagan by evangelists . Below are the incredible images of commendable voluntary sikh organizations who participated wholeheartedly in relief work during Nepal earthquake

                  Nepalese people are known for there valor and integrity and ferociously guard there sovereignty. The drafting of Constitution is best left to the able hands of elected representatives of Constituent Assembly members and citizens without external influence and preachings.

Iran Nuclear Deal - A Threat To World Peace

              Albert Einstein — 'I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.' 

                  If The Treaty of Versailles sowed seeds of second world war the nuclear deal between Iran and west will be remembered for fourth. For long America and her friends are pursuing a dangerous and erratic foreign policy with questionable motives. Not long ago, Iran was deemed "Satan", harbinger of evil axis, genesis of all the trouble in middle east and in big U turn Americans are in haste to mend and rebuild ties now with Iran much to the chagrin of its trusted allies Israel & Sunni power house Saudi Arab. Foreign policy of Obama is an enigma riddled with inconsistencies if ever there is one. Obama in his first term snubbed India to appease and cozy up with China but after getting a cold shoulder response by Chinese he changed tract midway.

                 The terms of 159 page nuclear deal hailed by some commentators as path breaking, a diplomatic triumph is in my opinion is nothing short of debacle. In the end Iran will get $150 Billion and 10 years moratorium on enrichment of nuclear material one Atom bomb if Iran wants to pursue and have one. The Munich pact of 1938 hailed by British PM Neville Chamberlain as securing "peace for our time" only served Nazi cause by reinforcing there belief of highhanded tactics paying rich dividends. Iran nuclear deal has the danger of being judged the same by future historians. By kicking the can down the road,West has only delayed a decision in hope that the problem or issue will go away or somebody else will make the decision later, unfortunately its going to hound as Iran nuclear deal only reinforces belief of aspiring nuclear powers to get away with there demands sooner or later.

                There are many countries with ambitions of peaceful nuclear energy use supported by world powers but what makes Iran nuclear ambition dangerous is its clandestine nature,support to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah in Lebanon and threat of Iran to wipe out Israel from world map. These deadly connotations can't be brushed aside, in this particular case the ink hasn't dried yet and prominent voices of trampling America is reverberating from Iran. These ludicrous voices can't be ignored when world is sitting on tenterhooks and one shrill voice or action has the potential to kick start chain of events that will suck in not only entire middle east but inadvertently and reluctantly whole world.

                The paradigm shift in American foreign policy towards Iran isn't easy to decipher as yet but emergence of deadly organizations like ISIS(Daesh) ,unstoppable flow of sunni volunteers from across the globe and inability of America to weed out and confront such elements might have prompted America to forge deal with Iran. American and Iranian interest coincided in Iraq and Syria where both of them were reluctant partners fighting against ISIS onslaught. The unsuccessful attempt by vested interests(American & Saudi) to topple government of Bashar al-Assad was not the single instance when Iranian and American interests collided, but Hezbollah and Israeli war of 2006 at Lebanon and frequent skirmishes between the two warring parties often put Americans and Iranians at loggerheads.

              

               The resilience of Iranian economy against sanctions and support of Russia and China in UNSC has blunted American attempts to throttle Iran and bring it to negotiating table. Moreover sanctions and embargo didn't succeed with minuscule economies of North Korea,Cuba and deter them from capitulating or going nuclear so expecting Iran to succumb to sanctions was always foolhardy as Iranian economy is the 17th largest in the world.Though 60%or Iranian economy is dependent on sale of gas & oil and plummeting crude prices, sanctions dented it severely but it wasn't crumbling. Interestingly it was America that supported and started nuclear Iranian nuclear program in 1950s. 

              This nuclear deal between 5 UNSC council members and Germany (P5+1) with Iran at best will only slow down its march towards Atomic Bomb. The provision of inspection isn't full proof as Iran has conceded to the demand of ope-ended inspections.In the end this deal which seems to be a ploy of west to turn foe to friend will help Iran emerge as a formidable power with robust economy and nuclear weapons.The troublesome part of deal is if Iran decides to abandon deal with threat of sanctions gone only option of all out war will remain.

               It would be naive to assume Iran didn't have covert nuclear installations and according to reports from IAEA Iran needs approximately a year to make one atomic bomb,but with covert operational installations this time can be vastly reduced. This deal will induce other Gulf countries to embark on vehemently seeking nuclear quest. The sectarian fault lines and conflicts among Shia block(Iran ,Syria,Iraq, Yemen) and Sunni block(Saudi Arab,Egypt etc) is brewing rapidly and in this explosive environment of distrust and mutual conflict it would only be a matter of time when whole middle east will be consigned to flames sucking other countries as well.

               

Vyapam Scam

                   Job scams across India has captured peoples attention at regular intervals but nothing has catapulted itself to Vyapam scam of MadhyPradesh . The one before Vyapam hogging the limelight was the notorious Junior Basic Training (JBT) teachers recruitment scam, where 3206 teachers were illegally recruited in Haryana in 2000. The investigation in JBT led to the arrest of former CM (Om Prakash Chautala) and host of high ranking officials. The gravity of Vyapam that jolted national conscience was after deaths of 41  people so far, allegedly associated with scam. This scam where about 2,000 people are arrested so far, prominent being the BJP ex-Education minister Laxmikant Sharma while scores of others are still on run is finally handed over to CBI .
                  Before discussing the anatomy of Vyapam scam,its necessary to find out the real causes for such job scams to occur at regular intervals. There are many reasons for unending loop of job scams in India but basic and foremost being the large workforce with almost identical skills competing for fewer jobs(demand supply mismatch) .The job safety of government job makes it alluring for people to follow unfair practices, there had been instances of under privileged families bribing touts and middleman by taking loans or mortgaging there property. It's not just government jobs for which people pay through there noses,even getting a descent  private sector job is becoming an uphill task nowadays. About 12 million people join the workforce every year in India vying for stagnant jobs .With fewer jobs and incompetent corrupt institution,getting a lucrative job entice people to harp on to immoral,unscrupulous means. The biggest fallout of such scams is the replacement of meritorious candidates by dubious candidates.
                   Truth is jobs are perilously low and inadvertently a web of government officials, racket leaders, middlemen, candidates and their parents in collusion are responsible for such scams occurring at frequent intervals. Education plays a vital role in the development of any country,the quality of education whether at primary or higher education is significantly poor thus compounding the problem. Deplorable condition of education sector demands reforms in education system , bookish knowledge along with vocational training in consultation with private sector should be imparted to increase chances of employability. In India, only 7 per cent students are getting vocational education which is the crux of problem. It's very important to have education with the economic arrangements for reaping maximum benefits.
                   Our obsolete education system creates unemployable workforce without skills.The trend of government and private sector decreasing investment in education sector needs reversal. Universities should be encouraged to not only to impart vocational training along with bookish knowledge but seek collaboration with Foreign Universities to embrace newer skills. To start with, not much research work is carried out in our universities, we are emphasizing more on consuming knowledge rather developing innovation skills to succeed. Colleges and universities should motivate students to excel through innovative skills. The sorry state of universities becomes startling clear when not even one single university included to the ranks of the top 100 universities in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings. Investment in research and development is meager 0.9% since 2005 in India despite governments assurances of increased allocation.
                  As long as country has stagnant growth, majority of our population below 35 years of age and increasing number joining the workforce strain on jobs will continue. India can't afford to be a laggard, transition from knowledge to innovative skills based economy is need of hour. We have to be agile and adaptable to the needs of changing world requirements to be at forefront with requisite skills to reap maximum benefits. Lastly transformation isn't possible without out of box thinking, innovation, entrepreneurship should be motivated through public,private investments
                This scourge of Vyapam scam though is related to only MP in reality isn't actually confined to only one state, it is present in different states with variable names.The perpetrators of Vyapam scam should be prosecuted and better vigilance and transparency is required for stopping any more scams to occur .Job scams were and will continue unabated as long as effective stern measures aren't initiated with sole purpose of transforming education system.More funding towards research and innovation should be provided with minimum bureaucratic interference. The contour of robust economy is the growth and in changing scenario innovation, skill development is the buzz word for providing jobs thus eradicating poverty and inequality.There are many stake holders in it but government and private players have prominent role to play in transformation. 

Tales Of Two Gajendra's

           Not long ago a farmer named Gajendra committed  suicide in full public view at AAP rally in the presence of CM Arvind Kejriwal. He was supposedly a distressed farmer and was agitating against the  the Modi government's Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, although his family refuted claims as bogus as there family is perhaps financially better off and it was discovered Gajendra wasn't a typical farmer but an aspiring politician. His unfortunate death, though is under investigation and will be ascertained if he committed suicide or was a attempted stunt gone horribly wrong, what though is apparent is the distress in rural economy in India and level of disinformation spread over LAB. Share of public expenditure on agriculture and allied sectors declined from about 6 percent in 6th Plan to about 4.5 percent in Tenth plan,Irrigation, which is a leading input for agricultural growth, expenditure also witnessed a declining trend (10% in Sixth plan to about 8%) in Tenth plan ,this alone can summarize the disenchantment and dismay among rural population. Farmers suicide are rampant and no state is immune to tragic deaths of debt ridden farmers.Farmers deaths unfortunately doesn't hog limelight till some Gajendra has to do something extraordinary to get attention while all political parties are in same boat in offering lip service and condolences to grieving families. I am discussing it because these things aren't considered fashionable to discuss and is devoid of glitz n glamour our media and to some extent we all are more inclined towards.
         The tale of other Gajendra is even more interesting. Gajendra Chauhan was appointed as the new Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Governing Council that seems to have hurt the pride of students thus mobilizing  students bodies from different universities including JNU in Delhi and SRFTI in Kolkata mostly leftists organizations who were up in arms against appointment. Students are unrelenting in there demand of Gajendra's removal as his credentials were questionable and short of FTII  standard. The strike by students and pouring of support from many quarters including film celebrities is being discussed at length in our media with eminent media wallahs have expressed there opinions on it .
         What's important to know is the spending of Rs 12 lakh per student a year on FTII, a film student is subsidized more than one studying medicine, management or engineering. A cost review by the I&B ministry found that the extent of recovery through fees, hostel rent and other expenses as a percentage of expenditure in academic activities in FTII has decreased from 25% in 2006-2007 to as low as 11% in 2010-2011. In a country like our's where resources are scarce doesn't judicious allocation of resources is required ? Do we need and afford to run such white elephants on taxpayers hard earned money?
         I am unperturbed by affiliation of protesting students organization or credentials of Gajendra Chauhan to be appointed as Chairman, but spending on medical education at Rs 6 lakh a year per student (AIIMS), around Rs 3.4 lakh a year on engineering education (IIT) , while Rs 12 lakh spent on budding filmmakers makes me wonder the priorities of government.