RELEVANCE OF YOUTH ACTIVISM IN INDIA

“dunia ki is ranbhoomi mein jab desh hamara duta hua hai ,

le jaye is desh ko us shikhar par woh nayak yahin kahin khada hua hai”

-AMITABH BACHHAN

Welcome friends to the world of “Varchasva”. This is not like any other post which requires just a casual glance ,but this is an initiative by a group of young and ignited college goers who have decided that it’s high time when the youth of this country stand up for a cause ,and the cause is simple-lead India.

It has been 60 years since India got its independence but still we have not yet come out from the “Mandal- Mandir” obsession . We are still bound to be ruled by rogues and hooligans. Our robust democracy is being sabotaged by scamsters ,dons ,rapists and communal wolves who are making policies for ourselves. It may sound cynical to you that how can we young students can make a difference in any case when nothing is in our hands. But we don’t realize that there is a dearth of good ,honest and educated people in our politics and administration who can make the dream of superpower come true.

The reality today is harsh and grim but comm’on let’s face it. The Indian youth today is terribly flabbergasted by the glare of market . Luxury brands ,kfcs ,mcdonalds ,fashion apparels ,glitzy superbikes and god knows what malls ,sexy cellphones ,ipods ,superbikes and all has forced us to turn our face away from what is happening in our nation . We don’t realise that the mncs and business houses have turned us into a mere lot of “consumers” and not Indians . We just give a shit to what is happening in our neighbourhood ,our society and our nation .I m sorry but i have to say that we have become an insensitive ,self-centered mtv generation.

It’s not that we are not patriotic . Our “pop corn patriotism” springs up only when Dhoni smashes a hit or when we see movies like “Chakde India” or “Rang de Basanti”. the time has come when India needs a sincere and strong leadership but we are busy doing jobs for the west .There is a huge rush for getting green cards. If this is the state of nation then we have no right to complain for poor electricity supply ,inadequate water supply ,poor roads and pathetic infrastructure.

Since thousands of years India is known as the land of philosophers and thinkers now it is on our shoulders to turn the tables round and make India a land of “doers”.

(written by APURVA KUMAR,Guest Blogger)

AND THE RANN BEGINS

Hello friends , this is in continuation to my previous post titled ” And The Padma Shree Goes to : Part 1 “. Here I am going to discuss the unnecessary special treatment given by the media to the filmstars . I always ask a question to myself that why always the filmstars are given a VIP treatment by the media. Is the media working for them only ? Are the journalists being paid - off by them ? Why the starving and ailing farmers of Bundelkhand don’t catch an eye of media ? Why the endangered tiger has not got any media attention ? Why a Yoga teacher other than BABA RAMDEV has not become so much popular ? A very simple answer to all these questions is BUSINESS & PROFIT. As actress Neha Dhupia once said that only SEX & SHARUKH sell in bollywood , I would like to say that only BOLLYWOOD & LIMELIGHT sell in Media.

Everybody knows that whenever a gossip of sweet memories of the BACHCHANS and the OBEROIS is aired the TRP’s always shoot up. By telecasting the grave condition of a farmer or a dying tiger , one cannot achieve skyrocketing TRPs. The TRPs are completely based on MASALA. If your news has some CHATPATA Masala content then only you can sell your story in the market otherwise you have to sit empty handed like the ailing DOORDARSHAN.

The special reports & programmes of the news channels mainly contain news from Bollywood , Sports and Astropredictions of solar eclipse by some JYOTISHI or TANTRIK BABA . Nobody airs a program for the betterment of our 3^rd grade primary education system , 5^th grade rural health & hygiene facilities. No news channel broadcasts a special program for AIDS awareness. The efforts of the people working in the field of AIDS awareness always get unnoticed.

There is no place for highlighting the efforts & achievements of people like Dr. Ram Madhav of NGO PRATHAM who has changed the face of education in India. In this regard I would like to appreciate CNN - IBN for conferring the INDIAN OF THE YEAR award to Dr. Madhav. The electoral campaign ” JAGO RE “ remained only an advertisement. Had it not been sponsored by TATA - TEA , it would have been creating awareness only on some local channel.

At last I would like to request the media not to play with the sentiments of AAM-AADMI. The actors should not be adored as GOD since they also fall under the category of tax payers like us. News means North East West South , so instead of eying at Bollywood i.e. West the media should also pay some attention to other directions and fields.

AND THE PADMA SHREE GOES TO…… : PART 1

On the eve of our 60^th Republic Day , the media was going ga-ga over the prestigious PADMA Awards. These awards are the symbol of excellence & pride forthe achievers. Every year eminent personalities from the field of sports, entertainment, medicine, education, arts are awarded the titles of Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan, & Padma Vibhushan. Some times our govt. also award the ‘BHARAT RATNA’ which is the highest civilian award in our country.

Since my childhood I have been seeing the photographs of filmstars & sportsmen in newspapers and channels as winners of the Padma awards.This year AmirKhan, Rekha, Virendra Sehwag were among the winners. There were other people also who won the award along with these people. But the media portrayed only the filmstars as the sole winners. The winners from the field of medicine, arts, education were completely ignored. Their achievement was shared with us only by printing their names in some corner of a news report. None of the newspapers and channels took the pain to publish a photograph of winners like Y.V.Reddy, Dr.R.Panda , Dr.P.K.Veriyar , Dr.Philip Augustine , Pt.Channoomal Mishra etc who are selflessly serving the nation and society.

The procedure for awarding the civilian awards is unfair. It is partially biased. It not always confers the right award to the right person. This year A.R.RAHMAN has been awarded the Padma Bhushan. But he deserves much more than a Padma Bhushan. He is the man who has given new heights & dimensions to Indian music. He has become the brand ambassador of India. Everybody is chanting the mantra of JAY-HO for India. The magic of JAY-HO was also spread at the lavish dinner hosted by Mr.&Mrs. Obama for Dr. Manmohan Singh at WHITE HOUSE .Rahman has brought laurels for India from every corner of the globe. The melody of JAY-HO was so sweet that for the first time an Indian bagged so many OSCARS.

Rahman don’t deserve Padma Bhushan. He deserves the BHARAT RATNA. He has created a respect for Indian music at the global platform. After Pt.Ravishankar & Lata Mangeshkar he is the only musician whose music has been globally acclaimed and applauded. A man like Rahman is the real Ratna of India. He is not only the Ratna, he is our NAVRATNA. So whenever the govt. announces the next Bharat Ratna , it should be unanimously given to A.R.RAHMAN .

In 2004 , the then president Dr.A.P.J.Kalam raised questions on the selection of the final candidates for the Padma awards. A January 2004 “secret” note from President Abdul Kalam to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee advised extra caution in the selection of Padma awardees “to ensure that no adverse reaction takes place in regard to conferring of these prestigious awards.”

This year the Padma awards committee made a blunder by awarding the Padma Bhushan title to hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal who is facing many criminal charges under the IPC. Then also the prestigious Padma title has been conferred to him. His selection should have been properly scrutinized before selecting him as the final awardee.

The note, accessed recently by Right to Information activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, assumes relevance in the context of the controversial award of Padma Bhushan to American hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal. In his note, Mr. Kalam referred to “some criticism” at the time of the 2003 Padma awards, and emphasised the need to be “extra careful” in deciding “these prestigious awards.”

Mr. Kalam laid down important criteria for the selection. Among them: There should be “no adverse reports” against the selected candidates “from any of the investigation agencies/ organisations ,” and no person should be selected “except on the recommendation of the Awards Committee.”

The committee, which met between July and October 1996, noted that Padma Bhushan was to be awarded only for “exceptional and distinguished service.” It was emphatic that “no Padma award should be conferred except on the recommendation of the Awards Committee.” It sought strict adherence to guidelines and advised that October 1 be observed as the deadline for receiving recommendations.

*** The response of media over the Padma awards will be discussed in PART 2, till then keep reading BHARATVARCHASVA *****

INDIA TODAY & TOMORROW : CONGRESS AND RAHUL

16th May 2009, the day when I was writing my software engineering exam India was writing history.Yes I am talking about result of general election 2009a. I was so excited for the election results that my mind was not able to concentrate on the question paper and continuously thinking about the magic number.

When i came out of the examination center, I hurriedly rushed to a nearby shop where many people were watching the verdict on TV screens.What I saw was a great shock!!! Yes , it was a great shock for all the communal n communist wings of India. It was a great shock for the secular forces too ‘coz after a long time we were witnessing a stable parliament mainly dominated by a party which works for the interest of the whole nation and not for the welfare of a particular region or religion.

The victory of UPA has proved that we Indians are religiously emotional but not emotional fools, who handover the future of our motherland to the people whose hands are stained with the blood of thousands of our innocent brothers n sisters. In this election the people of India did not vote for the govt. which includes leaders who are corrupt, work for a particular caste or support the rule of Mafia…..

BREAKING NEWS:”RAHUL GANDHI is our future PM”.
The above statement was made by 10 JANPATH confident Mr.J.Dwivedi. One should not be sceptical about the credibility and implementation of this statement. The credit of this paradigm shift(from hung house to a stable govt.)mainly goes to RAHUL. He is the man who successfully engineered
the poll campaign n successfully wooed the YOUTH.

Rahul has not gained this success within a fortnight. It’s a result of an extensive research and survey work which he has been doing since the day he joined politics. He took the grief n sorrow of poor like ‘Kalavati’ and ‘Shashikala’ to the parliament and pleased the whole political fraternity to support the ‘NukeDeal’, for the welfare of such poor.

He was the main person who attracted the attention of finance ministry towards the pathetic n grave condition of poor farmers. As a result of this, farmers were given Rs.65,000 Crore loan waiver.Though it was mainly a pre poll strategy but it saved the lives of many farmers for whom drinking a bottle of pesticide was just like drinking COCACOLA. Now Kalavati n Shashikala are living in happiness n earning their bread without any suicidal thoughts.The same is the situation of many farmers of our nation.

Rahul would have taken a key portfolio in the cabinet but he insisted to work for strengthening the party. Actually he is working to strengthen BHARAT. Now India is meeting BHARAT. He is visiting the villages n Dalit houses to know the actual needs of an Indian. He believes that India does not dwell in the metros n malls but it dwells in the villages n Chaupals. Here,he seems to be a follower of BAPU who believed that path of India’s prosperity passes through villages.

Dining n staying with the dalits serves the political interests of the Congress party too. In the name of social upliftment, the party is trying to regain the confidence of the downtroddens who actually distracted away from Congress since the emergence of B.S.P.
Rahul is trying to convince the dalits that their future is more secured in Congress n Soniaji rather than in B.S.P. n Bahenji. This has really paid off the Congress in this election. The percentage of Dalit n Muslim votes dramatically increased in favour of the Congress, due to which the party managed to win 21 seats in U.P. B.S.P., the flagship party of dalits bagged only 23 seats in the whole country. ‘MAULANA’ Mulayam has also lost his charisma among the muslims as none of the muslim candidates from S.P. has won a seat. MAULANA was limited at 25 seats against 40 in year 2004.

If the same trend and scenario continues in our country then the day is not very far away when Rahul will be sworn as the PRIME MINISTER and INDIA will touch the echelons of success, development, prosperity, social equality, communal harmony n peace and say JAYHO ! at the global platform……..

ILLUMINATING INDIA

For many Indian villages complete electrification is still a dream. Many schemes were announced by the government to electrify these villages but none of them has been implemented completely. In India, only 65% of the rural households are electrified. Many villages have not even seen the spark of an electric wire. But very soon all of their dreams will be realised by DURON ENERGY, a South Africa based energy company.

Duron mainly deals in harnessing solar power and provides a cheaper access to electricity. Duron has developed a compact solar panel and a solar lantern which uses LEDs as a medium for light. Duron is providing a set of solar panel, 3 LED solar lanterns and a mobile charger at cost of RS.6000 only. It is cheaper than the solar lanterns supplied by the block development offices.

A fully charged solar LED lantern lasts atmost 30 hours. It is more than sufficient for a family living in a shack. For a bigger household, the set of 3 lanterns can be used for a period of 4 hours. You can also charge a mobile phone with the solar mobile charger provided in the set.

This initiative will really help the villagers to overcome the dillema and backwardness of electricity. It is a boon for the rural students who are not able to study during night. Now they can realise their dreams by burning the midnight oil. It will also help the cottage industry as the employees will be able to work during night. Within few years, the socioeconomic condition of the villages will improve.

Day by day young entrepreneurs are coming up with such innovative ideas. The government should help them by providing adequate financial support and act as a middle man between the company and customers.

By the efforts of companies like Duron and Selco, many villages in U.P. and Karnataka have been given an access to electricity and very soon every village will overcome the darkness and enjoy light.