Anna Movement: Changing Roles of Media

Media has always been at the upfront of this Jan-Lokpal movement from April last year and became a part of this movement in Aug, 2011. It may be because of TRP or media activism that media left its role from being sceptic about the movement and started narrating the movement rather than just reporting. My question is that what was wrong for media being a part of movement in national interest? Is it a conflict of interest in being a journalist and Indian citizen? I strongly feel that what is right is right whether you view as a journalist or a citizen. What Team Anna has to keep in mind while this movement is in its youth days is that you cannot criticize a group of section for not supporting the movement. It is their rightful duty to report the movement, but if they fail to do so, may be due to their own unwillingness or govt. pressure, it is sad part of story. You cannot convert this story into actions against media mogul.

Low turnout at Jantar-Mantar may worry Team Anna, this year. If our movement is morally right, then we don’t have to depend on someone else be it media, low turnouts, blackouts, etc. At some point of time, I feel that let the common people suffer because they are so agnostic about change that they don’t even come out to participate in movement or ideologically support it. Team Anna is not fighting for themselves, why the citizens of this country don’t understand this? Their thought narrows down this movement of considering Team Anna’s movement. The Indian people, mostly the educated class is kind of oblivious of society. The reality show happening in the entire country is teaching us the big lesson. India is on the crises of change, all that matters is citizen, media and civil society’s support.

Each movement leaves its footprint on the sands of time, and I believe this time it will not remain merely the footprints, they will rise and go beyond that, creating a paradigm shift. Recent announcement at Jantar-Mantar visualizes team Anna’s sagacity to look forward, as they aim to establish a people’s party, a political alternative. What we can do is wait and watch the show as Team Anna enters into the next stage of democratic procedure.

Euro Zone Crisis Simplified

To what world sees as an alarming danger to the global economy. What is it that has dragged the European countries into a meltdown and stagnated the growth of the developing economies? Is it mere hype created by media institutions or is a juncture of reality? In this article you will explore what is the Euro-Zone crisis or sovereign debt crisis. Before you go into deep insights of this crisis, you must know two major giant groups of Europe viz. European Union and Euro Zone. 

European Union

Established in 1993, currently has 27 member countries of Europe. It was formed to ensure the free movement of goods, capital, services and people in member countries.

Euro Zone

Established in 1999, currently has 17 members countries of Europe. Euro was adopted the common currency for trade, that would help foster the economies of the countries. European central bank is the central authority for administrating the monetary policy of the member states. For countries to remain in Euro Zone, their budget deficit should not exceed 3% of their GDP.

It is an irony on the part of Europe, having two big-giant groups viz. European union and Euro zone working to foster and strengthen the economies of European countries, and then witnessing such a serious crisis at home.

Why it is called Sovereign Debt Crisis??

Whenever government is in need of some money to finance its spending, it issues bonds in local currency or international currency. What is the difference between government bonds and sovereign bonds? If the bonds are in local currency, it is called government bonds. If the bonds are in international currency, it is called sovereign bonds. Sovereign bonds can be sold to other countries and foreign investors. It has to pay the interest money on specific period and principal amount at maturity. It has spread to Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain. Italy has the highest debt, while Portugal and Ireland are high on list as well. This crisis has its effects to whole of the Europe and world as well.

Greece - Most Affected

Greece is a developed economy with high Human Development Indicators. Tourism and shipping are the major industries of Greece.

Major reasons -

1. Tourism and shipping industries were highly affected due to the sub-prime crisis in US.

2. Over-expenditure on luxurious things.

3. High-level corruption in government.

Greece borrowed money by issuing bonds from European Central Bank, maturity period has arrived and Greece needs to repay the amount.

Greece government paid Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions to falsify their reports about country's high debt. Greece has the highest budget deficit of 13.6% of GDP or $ 532.9 Billion as of 2010.

After effects

S&P downgraded the Greece rating from BBB+ to BB+ in 2010.

Bailout and Austerity

The first bailout was approved by European Union and International Monetary Fund. They agreed to pay Euro 110 Billions, with EU paying Euro 80 Billion and IMF paying Euro 30 Billion. To continue receiving bailout, Greece has to follow some austerity measures and bring down its Budget deficit at 3% of GDP by the end of 2014, so it continues to remain the part of Euro-zone.

Austerity measures to be followed by Greece -

1. Wage cuts.

2. Freezing the pensions for 3 years.

3. Increase in sales tax to 10%.

4. Slashing of bonus.

It is a diktat on the people of Greece due to over-burdening of austerity measures.

Euro-Zone Crisis - A by-product of Sub-prime crisis

The economists suggest that the recent crisis in Europe was a ripple-effect of the crisis that hit the private financial institutions in US. To counter the global recession, European countries increased public spending, which began in 2008? Crisis in Europe hit majority of private financial institutions (e.g.- Lehman Brothers, American Insurance group) i.e. private banking institutions going bankrupt. While sovereign debt crisis in Europe led to the crashing of government financial institutions, i.e. countries itself going bankrupt.

 The world economic scenario is precarious. What we can do is wait and watch the show as it enters in to the next level. A lot of lessons are to learnt by the world economies including India as the show is proceeding in Europe.

Important Terms:

Budget Deficit - The amount by which some measures of the government revenues fell short of some measure of government spending.

Sub-prime Crisis - It was basically related to reckless lending to NINJA borrowers and mis-selling of toxic assets by reputed financial giants. It led to the crashing of private financial institutions in US.

Bailout - A loan given to a company or a country which faces financial turbulence or bankruptcy.

International Monetary Fund - The international organization that helps by providing loans to countries facing with balance of payments problem.

Zero Corruption Passport

The Indian Diaspora across the world is increasing at an all-time higher rate. People are going overseas to study, research, do business, work, tourism and many other purposes. Today, globalization has turned the world into a global village; distances are minimized with the help of technology. Therefore, there is a steep hike in no. of people applying for a fresh passport. Every foreign journey begins with a passports, one cannot do the above mentioned activities outside India, if he is not in a possession of a passport of Republic of India. Now starts the most revolutionizing step: getting a passport.  To go into insights of complexities involved in getting a passport, I arranged all my documents and applied for a fresh passport. After 3 weeks of my application, a police constable visited my place and followed his procedure for verification. After completing all his formalities, he demanded Rs.500 as his bribe and said it is his fees for doing verification and is disseminated from top-to-lower officials and warned me if I didn’t paid then, I’ll have to suffer and my file will not be cleared. I refused firmly and said that being a student, I’ll not pay a single penny and you do what you want to do with my file. After more than one month, my passport status showed that my police report was not clear, and then I wrote a mail to complaint authority of passport office, Bhopal. Within 1 week of my mail, my police report was clear and my passport was about to be dispatched. Finally I received my passport few days ago, to be surprised, even postman asked for some gift. But I had to refuse to him too, due to my policy of zero corruption. 

If we have all the tools available to fight against system, viz. RTI- Right to Information, in that case why there is a need to be corrupt. Hope I’m able to implement my policy of Zero Corruption, having failed many a time in my life, but still trying so that I’m able to reflect in my action all the time the same policy. It is my request to all the people who will be applying for a passport in near future, please adopt this policy and If there is any difficulty, I’m there to assist you in your bad times. Don’t cripple by seeing the system inefficient, rather use the infrastructure to convert your disability to strength.

Time to Shout Out & Loud

Gone are those days when you really get what you paid for. Departed are those days when companies use to ignore the complaints against them. These statements may be a bit puzzling at first, but both stands true in the present condition. The most burning topic of the recent time is consumers being exploited in this market where every day new company is being launched. With number of services and products added to the market daily, there is increase in the numbers of cases where consumers are being cheated by frivolous companies. The quality of services being delivered is the concern for the consumers, companies and government too. The awareness campaigns are being run by the government where they are helping to create awareness among consumers. In this initiative, consumer courts are being set up in every city where consumer himself can present his case to the court; lawyer is no more needed to be hired for the case. There are few private and social firms that have entered the market to provide consumer the consultancy services where they’ll guide you in resolving complaint against any brand or service. There is one organization, which I had personally interacted with viz. - Shoutout.co.in. When I shared my complaint on this website, within 2 days I got a call in order to resolve the complaint in best possible manner. They guided me through the process of filing the complaint with consumer court and also commented on the prospects of my complaint. The best part of this organization is that it offers free guidance throughout the case. This organization is working as an intermediary to resolve the complaint with the companies. I think it is the time for consumers to warm up their chairs, come out of their homes and shout loud so that people become aware of theft brands and consumer rights. It's time to fight for your rights and there are people to assist you. Don't be a naive consumer, rather be the enthusiastic consumer.

Immature Human Capital of India: Country demands development

The whole world is running behind two resources that can drastically increase their pace of development, i.e. energy and human capital. Today, we will talk about human capital, an asset that most nation wishes to get hold of. Human capital are those chunk of competent people who are well-educated i.e. engineers, doctors, scientist, educationist, etc and contributing in the growth of the nation. But the question I’m raising here is that – Is it worth having human capital in India? How much they have contributed to the development of India? Do they realize their importance for a developing country like India? Are they fulfilling the aspirations of their country? 

I somehow feel that human capital of India has missed the line and it is on the wrong path. They have forgotten their duties towards India as a responsible citizen. They don’t realize how much the country has spent in creating them. I think the sense of responsibility is missing in the educated people today; they are not gratifying what their profession demands from them.

The country demands from them that, they turn-out to vote proficient people during elections because they understand whom to vote, how to identify good candidates during elections and this voting pattern can change a lot, but they are very pessimistic about Indian politics that they have started losing faith in voting too. The statistics of voter turn-out during elections is that rural people comes out to vote more than urban educated people. Then how can we expect the change in our system, until and unless these educated people come out to vote.

The country demands from them that they contribute towards green India, they should understand festivals are not meant for polluting the environment (diwali is not meant for bursting crackers and holi is not meant for wasting water), and then saying that our environment is becoming worst than ever. We cannot attain the status of clean India until that enthusiasm to find a dustbin in our country is missing in the educated people. They just want to throw rapper, bit and pieces of what we eat or use anywhere without caring about country’s image.

The country demands from them that they come out and raise their voice against corruption. Bribing is not a solution, it is easy for you pay a bribe as you earning a good amount, but think of whole as a society, it is not easy for everyone. Think of a vendor earning a meagre amount daily, who has to pay a bribe for getting a birth certificate, a license, etc. Corruption is an evil which has ruined India and it has affected every class of the society. We have to join hands and work as a civil society for bringing good reforms.

The country demands from them that they start using public transport facilities because the city’s traffic is increasing day by day. They should understand oil is a natural resource that is not going to last forever; the day is not far behind when all these vehicles would be of no use, just a scrap. The way we are using the oil today, we are not going to leave anything for the posterity.

The country demands from our doctors that they understand that patient’s life is more important than their few hundred rupees of consulting fees. They should treat their patient as god because if no patient would be there, their earning would drop to zero. Getting a good medical treatment is not a common man’s deal now, it has to change now.

The country demands from our engineers that they start developing technology and equipment's with minimum carbon emissions. They develop cheap technology so that it reaches common man too. They innovate and invent stuff which could change the way we people live today, in a constructive manner. They should think of sustainable development as a future development strategy.

The country demands from our bureaucrats that their administration should reflect that common people’s voice is heard in trustworthy manner, irrespective of their political influence. As bureaucrats are driving force for developing policies, their focus should be on lower strata of the society, which is suffering from lack of resources. The way bureaucrats is sitting silent against all the odds prevailing in the society. The way they are involved in doing buttering of politicians, the way they don’t take any action against any politicians, this has to change and a clear message should go to the people that no one is above law. I believe that bureaucrats can change everything established in the society, they can bring development to common people’s feat.

I believe that human capital of India will soon understand their responsibility and India will traverse the path of development in every sector.

Anna Movement - Marching Ahead

Most of the people would be curious to know about the next move of civil society. Some of you might be aware of all the happenings. Few might raise question that civil society members have left the issue of Jan-lokpal and have entered the battle of elections? The issue of janlokpal is neither left behind nor the movement of corruption-less society stopped, rather it is gaining momentum daily. What we have learnt is large number of lessons from the government, the way govt. showcased its fortitude against the passage of effective lokpal bill. What we’ve seen in U.P. and other election-states is awareness campaigns. Team Anna has decided to bring the ideological change in the common people, because we have showed lots of strength on road. Now the main focus is to create and build think tanks across the country. IAC has started forming Charcha-Samuha (discussion groups) at every corner of the country be it village or city. These, so called Charcha-Samuha will discuss issues ranging from janlokpal, election reforms and parochial too. When these discussion groups grew in numbers and reach to lakhs, then the change will definitely strike. Team Anna has envisaged transfer of power from politicians and bureaucrats to the common people by raising issues like Right to reject, Right to recall, etc. The plan is make citizens more powerful than bureaucrats and elected representatives. The plan is to eliminate Red-light (lal batti) system and taking away the bungalows of the politicians and bureaucrats and shifting them to flats, where common people live. The rationale behind this is that when these people start living in such state of affairs, then they will realize the troubles of ordinary citizens. What we saw in August last year, was the acrimony of citizens against govt. policies and failure to tackle corruption. When the general election takes place in 2014, it become election of ideologies, policies, etc not mere based on religion or caste. Hope common people awakens as soon as possible for a revolution is yet to arrive.

Are we really Happy?

Happiness cannot be measured objectively, it is a subjective quality. One simple question strikes the mind, then how to measure happiness? Till now, scientists haven’t succeeded in finding a test to measure happiness! In most of our actions, we try to find happiness. One step technology takes in forward direction; humanity moves the same in opposite direction. This is because we are disturbing the natural arrangement created by the almighty God.
Each one of us has some material dreams and we labor hard to accomplish them. Some of us might finish up with finally achieving those dreams, but then, are we able to satisfy our soul? As scholar enters the college life, most of them desire to have a laptop, a bike, a Smartphone and all that. But then also, we are not able to satisfy our self. After getting these, we say if I get this, I’ll be happy, but then, we all know what happens. Try to remember yourself when you had thought in that way. I’m damn sure, most of you would have thought. Though many so-called superpowers of the world claim to be developed, but then see the culture these countries have. Gone were those days, when small-small things brought lots of happiness in our home. The world is moving very fast, people want to become millionaire in a day. But after getting that, they waste the money in irrelevant stuff. When a billionaire sleep on night, he is full of stress and at the same time you can find a slum dweller sleeping very peacefully. This fact shows that money can buy status but not happiness. Then how does happiness come? How can we make our soul happy? We should stop the self-centered approach; we will have to connect our soul to the supreme personality of Godhead. We will have to stop thinking ourselves as body and stop satisfying our bodily concerns, rather be on platform of thinking where our activities are not influenced by mode of goodness, mode of ignorance and false ego. Without that, we will be striving for happiness and might wind up with messing things around us. As we’ve forgotten our constitutional position, we are suffering in this material world. We need to get back our constitutional position that we are constrained to, that is to be one with god.