Technology will bring the Social changes…….

Technology will bring the Social changes…….

India or the “Bharat”, the more appropriately should be called as; is evolving as a nation step by step for better from the shadows of dominant views and acts of few rich, powerful and governing classes and their agents. Bharat is also step by step evolving for better from the clutches of mental slavery and cult worshiping masses who in the past treated their political masters as demigods and ‘ruling mai-baaps”. There was a time couple of decades post independence when the personalities like Gandhi, Nehru & Indira were worshiped as gods and whatever they said was considered sanctimonious, not meant for questioning. During those days, the passion of new free India and patriotism was so overwhelming that children used to feel proud in singing songs like “vande matram”, “jana gana adhinayak jay he” “kadam Kadam badhaye ja, khushi ke geet gayeja” during “school prabhat pheries” and national celebrations. As an example of cult worshipping (vyakti puja), I myself remember an incident in my childhood days in the summer of 1964. The people of my village, a hamlet of less than 5000 population had expressed their profound grief at the demise of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Bharat, by observing a mourning for thirteen days and performing the “terhavi’ ceremony, (the thirteenth day ceremony to offer prayer for peace of the departed soul) by offering food to entire village. Of course, this was with their own financial contributions, without any media propaganda and government support. The emotions running across the country must have been similar.  In those days, there were only the print media, news papers, magazines, journals and radios for mass communication though accessible to a fraction of population. The general masses could only express their voices through the ballot boxes and that too with few exceptions of a segment of society riddled by extreme poverty, illiteracy; caste and class biases whose voices were silenced by powerful and they could never used to see the ballot boxes.  

As the time passed and country progressed, the technologies started penetrating across the width and breadth of the geographical regions, in far flung areas and in villages and towns. The diesel pump sets across the farms, followed by electric pump sets, electricity poles in connecting villages and towns, better roads and vehicular transportation facilities, spread of educational facilities, movement of people from one corner to another; all these stared making a difference in the lives of people. The dark period of emergency also came as anti climax and attempts were made to silence the voices of dissents. The JP movement united the opposition which gave birth to new leaders like the brands of Sharad Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav and brought an experiment of short lived united Janta Party government lead by Morarji Desai, soon to be collapsed. The voices of the people again gave rise to the re-emergence of Indira Gandhi lead Congress government back to power. The Asian games in Delhi in 1982 gave a big impetus to emergence of television, a visual media in the country. The monotonous Doordarshan news programmes were supplemented by interesting TV serial and the first soap opera, “Hum Log” became so popular that the character of Dadi, her health, Basesar and Lallo used to become the topics of lunch talks in offices and on the roads all over the country. Then came the Vinod Duas and Pranav Roys to start interviewing dignitaries, conducting TV debates and feeding hungry minds of people waiting for thrills of investigative journalism. Simultaneously, the common man also started finding space in the visual media and the growth in the sector made the TV an essential item in everybody’s drawing and bed rooms irrespective of his/her financial status. With the spread of visual media leading to rising awareness among masses, the fire walls between the common man and those unquestionable political and wealthy demigods started crumbling. The people started questioning each and every action of government authorities. Mighty government fell and Rajeev Gandhi, who got whopping 411 parliamentary seats in 1984 election, could lose in 1989 to his fellow politician, V P Singh under the onslaught of corruption scandal in Bofors gun deal.

The advent of main frame computers and personal computers and subsequently the internet technologies have further armed the masses. With the information boom, they started demanding more and more transparency and accountability from government authorities and agencies that matters in any field of governance and public services. The rising awareness further fueled the demand for information sharing and consequently, the government of the day had to legislate the RTI act. For a developing country like Bharat with large population and scarce resources, information technology has now become the greatest tool for social transformation. The information technology has revolutionalised the field of communication and as a result, the governments of the day were forced to introduce ways of stopping leakages in the subsidies and benefits in many social schemes by introducing direct benefit transfer to the bank accounts of eligible population. The multifold spread of mobile penetration to the remotest corners within the country coupled with the convergence of mobile and internet technology has changed the way now Bharat communicates; conduct e-governance, e-commerce and e-business. The present Prime Minister’s Jan-Dhan Yojna, a scheme of financial inclusion of population lead to opening of 20 Cr. bank accounts in the country during the first year of its launching with facility for Rupay cards, will also change the way masses transact and do business.

Along with the above, the foremost social transformation is also happening as the technology is giving the “voices” to masses on day to day basis, 24X7, without waiting for the reach to ballot boxes. The millions and millions of accounts of Indians on social websites like Twitter, Facebook, Google, e-blogs, blogs, e-news papers etc. demonstrate the trend in rising voices of the masses on any issue. The impact is immediate, reach is instantaneous and the masses become more and more powerful to make or break an opinion. Earlier, only those in position of power or authority, or a celebrity could find a way to express his/her voice in news papers or in TV programmes but today, through the social media, everybody like you, me and a person walking on the road within or outside the country can instantaneously express his views on any issue. The casualties of the process are the demigods whose sanctimonious temples of authorities have started taking serious dents. Their unquestionable authority and every actions/reactions go under scrutiny which may become questionable. Even the powerful position of the prime minister is not spared.  The beneficiaries are the masses, armed with great powers. Rare beneficiaries are also the activists like like Arvind Kejriwal, who claims to be holier than thou, but as people say, has a great driving expertise while negotiating U-turns and standing tall hand in hand with Lalu.

The dominant views on social media can make or mar a career of a politician, a common man, a worker, an official or a even a celebrity. The media demand more responsible acts from every person in the society. Also, like any other arms, the fire-arm of social media can also be misused by vested interests and therefore puts a greater accountability on everybody to conduct himself/herself on the social media as well as out site its’ domain in a responsible manner conducive to social norms, national ethos and interests. However, the trend will definitely bound to bring the social changes in the country, make the governments more accountable, and people friendly, transparent and more responsible society eventually to empower the common man more and more.

WHO AM I?

Who am I? Who are you? Who is he? Where from I, you and he/she came? Where are we going? Where are we leading?

These are the eternal questions bothering everybody and there comes a time in everybody’s life when one tries to seek answers, partially or fully? Should everybody wait for the natural way to wait for such time to come to the realization or make immediate earnest efforts to recognize the “self’ and find the universal truth? I think it would be too dangerous for the humanity to wait in natural way and not act earnestly.

Ultimately what we are made of? Our bodies are made of flesh, bones, blood derived from the earthen elements. We take birth through a process of reproduction in mothers’ womb. All human beings come in the world through the same process. They also go back from the world through the identical process of decay and deaths. It is a different matter how our bodies are treated and extinguished after death. The processes of birth and death are universal. Nobody can claim that we come to and go back from the world in different ways. When these two end points between the start and end of life are identical for everybody, irrespective of caste, colour, creed, race and nationality, then from where the differences appear between the two end points. The difference is definitely there and it is more dominant. The difference is an acquired one, the difference is an assumed one, and the difference is an imposed one. I say, I am a Hindu because I am borne in a Hindu family. Other may say he/she is a Muslim as he/she is borne in a Muslim family, another may say that he/she is a Christian due to birth in a Christian family. As we grow, we also acquire other faith, traits, habits, mood swings, likes and dislike and other behavioral patterns. We live, behave and carry our lives generally on the basis of these acquired faith, traits, habits & practices. But, above the realm of this acquired identity, we are, in essence, the same natural beings we call it human beings.

When in essence, we are “same”, we have the same natural rights and same natural responsibilities; “live and let live”. No one has right to snatch anybody’s life whatsoever the reasons may be.  Nobody can have any justification to kill other human being whatsoever the reasons may be. We are also conscious to the reality that the same blood flows in our bodies and bodies of others. If we suffer from some disease, we go to a doctor who can treat us, on whom we have faith. We have faith in him/her whosoever he/she may be. Do we bother whether the doctor is a Hindu, Muslim or Christian?  Never! He treats you, me and everybody in the same way and all we benefit from the treatment. And when our body needs blood during treatment or surgery, do we buy the blood asking for a Hindu, Muslim or Christian labeled Blood? Never! If one asks such a silly question, he/she will immediately be labeled as a stupid.

Similarly, in the matter of religion, we believe in different faiths and philosophies. Like when we go to a doctor, we have certain faith in him to treat us. Likewise, in case of religion, it is an acquired one either by birth or by reposing faith in certain way of life or philosophies. We believe in certain supreme power, a supreme force, name it God, Allah or Christ, Krishna, Buddha or whatever. The common thread is the faith on the Supreme Being.  Our faith may be we believe in none. However, whatsoever greater or lesser one’s faith might be, it is again an acquired faith and is definitely not above the basic essence of “oneness” among the humanity. Therefore, the concept of “live and let live” emerges from this oneness and I believe is the basis of all world religions.

Then why the acquired faiths, traits and habits become so dominant in ones’ life that we forget our basic essence, our basic origin?  Why the differences acquired during the process of our growing assume such a larger force that we forget the oneness between humanities, between races, religions and nationalities and act so foolishly to kill each other and carry out mass murders of innocent people. Mumbai, Paris, New York and other innumerable terror acts proves that we are not realizing the grave threat to humanity. Such acts sometime may lead to wiping out the entire race or communities? Today, the world possesses lethal weapons of mass killing and it will not be a surprise that eventually, the same can be used to annihilate the entire life from the planet earth. Then who will live and who will dominate?

That is the reason it is very imperative and important to know who we are, where we are going and where we are leading others. The world needs to make immediate earnest efforts to recognize the “self’ behind each one of us and realize oneness amongst us. Then and then only we can act wisely and arrest the growing madness. Then and then only we can adopt the philosophy of “live and let live”. The world needs to act immediately otherwise, it would be too late, too late and too dangerous for the humanity.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose-A Great Freedom Fighter clouded by mystery of history

Some 64 files on the mystery of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose have been de-classified today by the West Bengal Government. The Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee has taken a bold and right step to unravel the truth hidden in these files. We need not deliberate the political angle here, even if there is one. Two things conclusively points towards certain facts coming out from the files as was long rumored;

i. Netaji might have not died in the Taiwan plane crash and was very much alive for a considerable period after independence.

ii. Bose’s family was intensively snooped for decades even after India became Independent nation.

The developments and related debates in the recent past and now raise few more questions;

i. Congress has kept the truth deadly buried in the files so long for 70 years, now started demanding the declassification of the files lying with central government?

ii. Are the entire set of files kept intact for 70 years or any files or papers destroyed pertaining to the Bose mystery by the earlier governments of Congress regime?

The above points raise further questions, which will sooner or later be answered by the circumstances and wheel of time as truth cannot be buried forever. Every Indian is entitled to know the true history of a true son of India and a greatest freedom fighter and must demand for it.

1) When the Central Government will declassify the remaining files in it’s’ possession?

2) There is no slightest doubt in the minds of any Indian that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was a true freedom fighter. His way was supreme sacrifice for the nation. The famous asking “Tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhein aajadi dunga – You give me blood, I will give you freedom” and taking the arms against the mighty British empire is well known. Bose was a threat and an enemy of British empire. Snooping on his family by the British empire before Independence is well justified. But what was the need of snooping after the independence? Was he also an enemy of the then Indian government post independence? Was his family a threat to the then governments? Or Netaji did not die in the plane crash and was much alive and his return to the country would have posed a threat to the then governments? Or was there some tacit understanding of Jawarlal Nehru with British even after the Indian independence?

3) The answers to points no 2 above points to the real possibility that Netaji was much alive in some parts of the world like Soviet Union or China and the theory of his death in a plane crash was deliberately cooked by the then government to achieve certain political objectives. It also means that the manipulated and deadly distorted history has been fed to the people of India for years. Are we Indians fooled for so long?

The shoots of truth have already started coming out and the whole truth will emerge, no doubt sooner or later.

A long way to walk

I, as a raw stone, though hiding the entire beauty of the universe within me, am in constant search of the beauty outside. I, as a body, in the role of a father, a mother, a child, a husband, a wife and every relationship go to temple, go to mosque, go to church, go to a gurudwara and different places of worship in search of the god, though the divinity is hidden inside me. So, the truth is that I am blind to my own beauty; I am blind to my own godliness, my own truth and my own divinity. The truth is that the beauty of the universe, the truth of all the truths, the divinity and godliness of all the gods is already residing within me. Then who can awaken me from the deep slumber of this blindness? Nobody else, except me and my self-realization through deeper and deeper search within and stopping running after the mirage outside. The yogis say that the way is meditation. Bhagwan Shri Krishna says in Gita that the way is meditation. The Christ says in Bible that the way is meditation. The saints say that the way leads to self-realization, the self-enlightenment. For an ignorant and imperfect like me, a long way to walk.

Delhi State Assembly Election 2015

Today morning as I stood in the queue to cast my vote in Delhi Assembly Election, I was just watching people speak about elections, repeat elections and matter of governance. One elderly gentleman was saying that this is an opportunity in five years to select your government. I interrupted him saying “Yes! You bring them to power for five years but don’t have a right to snatch their powers before five years if they fail to perform”. Another gentleman said that you can snatch their powers if they don’t perform by mass movements like Anna Andolan. Another gentleman said that how does it matters, they all are same; difference might be that a grand old party stands like a Dawood, the old party on the rising like a dacoit and the bachcha party like a “jeb Katra”…a pick picketer. You have the option to choose whichever you like. I politely said to the gentleman that you get a government you deserve.

And the dance of democracy in the biggest democracy on this planet with replays of mudslinging and name calling matches, use of huge money and muscle powers, distribution of “Daaroo” bottles etc. etc. goes on and on and we, the people, the common men are taken for granted by the unholy “milibhagat” of all parties.

The fact remains that except the AAP, which might have hundreds of faults; no other political parties are willing to come under RTI. It means that they all have “something” to hide which they don’t want to make public. Except the AAP, no other political parties are willing to disclose sources of their 100% funding as it is said that 80% of their funding are undisclosed. It means that they have 80% of their funding to hide and don’t want to make it public. It is alleged that they have also been found accepting foreign funding also. In spite of these facts, such political parties claim that they stand taller on the platform of honesty than their rivals and are the real servants of the public.

If no political party is “doodh ki dhuli” are we not facing the biggest challenge to choose one to cast our vote? At this point, I am sure, if we look deep inside, our own moral standing on the degree of truth, honesty, integrity and purity will propel us to select from the Dawoods, dacoits and jeb katres.