Happy Indian Presidents Day, er, Happy Teachers Day!

India is a special country, where the first President and the first Vice President were teachers and doctorates, and that's not all! The first recipient of the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, was a teacher too - who incidentally served as the first Vice President and the President later.

It is not everyday that we realise that 6 out of the 16 Presidents of India were teachers at some point of time, and 6 others among them were associated with educational institutions and even help set up some!

1. Dr. Babu Rajendra Prasad taught English and later Economics. (Dr. Rajendra Prasad did his doctorate in Law later though and did not teach law though he practised it.)
2. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnayya taught Philosophy and his books are considered the best for the subject even today. 
3. Dr. Zakir Hussain founded the National Muslim University, which continues to this day as Jamia Milia Islamia and is also a doctorate who also served as the Vice Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia; the engineering college in Aligarh Muslim University is named after him. 
4. Dr. Mohammad Hidayatullah was not just a teacher of law but also served as the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Chancellor, and Chancellor for five different universities in India and the National Law University at Naya Raipur is named after him! 
5. Dr. Fakruddin Ali Ahmed was an M.D. who also practised law (!) and has a Medical College named after him in Assam. 
6. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy was not an educator but was quite instrumental as the Deputy CM of AP in founding the Sree Venkateswara University and received the first Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the university. 
7. Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma was a Professor or Law. 
8. K.R. Narayanan taught at the Delhi School of Economics and later served as the Vice Chancellor of JNU. 
9. And then, we all know that one President who went back to teaching (at Anna University) after he moved out of the Rashtrapati Bhavan - Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam - and we do not care that he does not have an earned Ph.D. because he has a total of 48 honorary doctorates!! 
10. Pratibha Patil is not a teacher but ran educational institutions under the name "Vidya Bharati Shikshan Prasarak Mandal". 
11. Pranab Mukherjee taught Political Science for a while. 
12. Ramnath Kovind was a member of Board of Management (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University-Lakhnau) and Board of Governors (IIM-Kolkata). 

Happy Teachers' Day, and of course, it is the birthday of the first Vice President and one of the first three recipients of Bharat Ratna, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnayya (a.k.a. Radhakrishnan) :-)  Incidentally, the other two recipients of the coveted award in 1954 along with Dr. Radhakrishnayya were C.V. Raman, who was also a teacher and C. Rajagopalachari who was the Minister for Education in the Interim Government of India (1946–'47) and was among the founders of the educational trust Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan which continues the legacy of running educational institutions even today! 

Sadly though, India is still not among the best education destinations in the world. Let's get inspired, at least now!

Anarchy by the Government–Made in India!

A CM-to-be (rather, someone who was a CM-wouldn't-wanna-be in his own words and now a CM-to-be anyway) calls for bandh today. This is the second bandh after the A.P. Reorganization Bill was somehow approved in the Parliament of India. The first one was supported by the ruling-party-to-be and the second was called for by the same.

It was very recently that we saw in Delhi that a CM-turned-activist believing that a governmet can still go on a dharna. Now, we have a CM who believes in closing down the state!

...And as irrelevant as it may seem, such maniacs (Yes, I said "maniacs"!) are the ones who make me strongly believe that Mohandas Gandhi chose his Path of Non-violence very aptly to lead the Nation towards Independence. I mean, just imagine what would happen if we got our independence through killings or some other violent acts! We’d have continued the same even after independence, just to get things our way! (May I remind that the bandh-s and dharna-s are, albeit as disfigured and irrational remnants of purposeful display of non-adherence to government-established order, from the pre-Independence era?)

 

And, don't even get me started on the reason for the bandh!! The ruling party wanted a few villages and towns which are being, through an ordinance by the recently-sworn-in Union Government of India, “undemocratically and unconstitutionally taken away from their State without seeking the State Legislature's opinion/approval”. Oh, yes, if you knew enough history, you’d realize that the current proponent of the bandh is the same political group that had been saying that the Andhra Pradesh State Assembly's opinion can be happily disregarded and trashed and that the State of Andhra Pradesh can be reorganized as per the whims and wishes of the Union Government of India so as to cut out Telangana.

...And why did they want these "few villages and towns"? Because they belonged to them historically? Yes and no. These places belonged to them (along with Vinukonda and some regions of Palnadu also, IIRC) a century ago and to Coastal Andhra later. The pre-1956 Telangana didn't have these few villages and towns but they want them now, because they are emotionally bonded to them in the last 60 years. And they cannot ever raise their voice against Hyderabad-Karnataka region that was a part of the pre-1956 Telangana! And, they cannot understand a similar emotional bonding that the rest of the state has with Hyderabad or Telangana!

 

What’s more shocking is that the ordinance was prepared before the elections and the CM-to-be and his party knew of it all along! They stayed mum about it until now, so that they can keep the tensions alive and bring them up when needed.

 

Polavaram is not a decision taken today – this had been one of the major issues of concern for some reason or the other for the past decade or longer. So, what had been done against it all these years, in support of their claims or arguments? What is the rational basis for yesterday’s call for bandh? What will a bandh in Telangana do abouta a decision taken in New Delhi, and who will it inconvenience? How can one claim regions selectively, totally by their choice, and yet constantly whine about it?

Would someone answer these questions? First, someone – the “educated” lot among us – must initiate, of course!

Call to Register for Jan LokPal Bill: Hoax

Ever saw this text?

"The Government has put condition to get 25 crore people to support Jan LokPal. To give your support call 02261550789 (as given by Kiran Bedi) from your mobile no. Your call will disconnect after 1 ring and your no registered automatically. You will get an SMS confirming this. I did this. Do it and pass to all your friends to make India corruption free. It is now or never...!!!.. (IT WORKS).."

Sometimes the number of people to support is different, and sometimes Dr. Kiran Bedi's name is not mentioned, but that's the content.

The phone number belongs to IndianAgainstCorruption.Org, which is also behind the campaign. The mention of Dr. Kiran Bedi and "IT WORKS" is highly misleading, to say the least. While I appreciate IAC for doing what they are doing for the campaign, I really wonder if misleading is the only modus operandi that works for them! And, I am very disappointed to see so-called educated people to fall for it just like that.

25 crores is less than 20% of the country's population. It can NOT be a plebiscite even if 25 crores support a cause. And, IF the Government of India did really put forth any such condition (with whatever amount of people), as a RULE, the notice should be published more than once in all leading newspapers of the country.

...Today, IndiaAgainstCorruption (IAC) is doing it for a good cause, and people may ask me why I have a problem. What if it's a terrorist outfit tomorrow that wants to get hold of several valid mobile numbers for their activities? Should we give a missed call mindlessly, just like that? (N.B.: Let me clarify that I am a supporter of IndiaAgainstCorruption myself, and I believe they intend only good and nothing bad. I signed their online petition, filled the online referendum, and fasted with Anna Hazare much before the "missed call campaign" started.)

We are all frustrated about the corruption, yes, and let's all do something against it too! But, let's also use our brains - and even conscience - in the process. Let's stop piracy, jumping traffic lights, trying to sneak in extra dutiable goods in your bags when returning to India from a foreign country, and **let's stop being ignorant**!! Educated people in any country do NOT have a right to be ignorant, IMHO!

...Sorry to sound harsh, but India is corrupt ONLY because of fools like us who are literates but are not educated.

So, should you register or not? I'd suggest signing up in the online referendum posted at http://www.indiaagainstcorruption.org/ instead. The ultimate choice is yours, of course!

Addendum: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/169154/missed-call-campaign-lokpal-bill.html says that the IAC campaign ended on June 28. Thanks to a brother of mine for this link. (The link says that the campaign was initiated by a sympathizer of IAC, but then the (a?) leader of IAC speaks about it and thus IAC does know of the campaign though it may not have initiated the campaign. The phone number still, however, appears on the top of the IAC homepage and "About Us" page.)

A new social activity/service organization?

Having been in the USA for most part of the last 11 years or more, I have been a virtual member of several social activity/service groups/organizations. While I do subscribe to parts of all ideologies of all these groups, I do not intend to form my own organization possibly ever! Why? To put it short, decentralized efforts cannot achieve anything but temporary and short-lived satisfaction and scope.

 

Why do you want to "establish [your] NGO" rather than joining an existing organization? That’s the big question I always have in mind whenever an enthusiastic individual says that (s)he wants to start an organization. In my opinion, it's better to join an existing organization for various reasons:

An established organization has already established its reach in the domain it's interested in.

An established organization has a dedicated/devout volunteer base that has passed through the phases of taking pains and choosing priorities very well, probably the hard way. This means, the "aarambha-Sooratwam" (initial fervor) has already ended and they have already "worked through" the intricacies of the domain of interest.

An established organization would have already devised a channel for donations from people in various cities and even countries. The IT Department paperwork is not something one can simply do, and clearance for foreign exchange donations takes two (or three?) years after applying for it, and you cannot apply for it until you the IT clearance for domestic donations (which takes a year or more, if I remember correctly). In other words, an organization cannot solicit donations from people outside the members' personal reach for up to 3-5 years after registration. Money isn't everything but money does make many things, of course.

Decentralized efforts cannot bring very major change, like I wrote earlier. For example, Hyderabad alone had 58 organizations working in the "traffic improvement" domain as of 2003 (when I last enquired from a sub-registrar Office)! How much has the traffic improved really? Imagine if coordinated efforts are taken up by one organization that can amalgamate all these passionate volunteers working all over the place with whatever meager money they can amass together and working in conjunction with the traffic police department. Can you not imagine a better traffic situation then?

 

Thus said, I recommend that everyone that has a passion to work towards a better society should join at least one existing organization to see how things work and notice how one would "continue to feel" about the goals, and means, while working towards the same.

For example, I am personally more interested in the society at large, and my motto is "educate the literates" - that's what I am interested in personally. But, I involve myself in every organization that I can come across, so that I can understand my "target" – the Society - better. Some organizations may, on the surface, seem myopic in their goals and reach, but then they're probably doing so very much better in that niche domain; even bigger organizations may probably not be able to cater so much to such remote areas of work/need. Some may want to address individuals and only individuals' personal needs. That's not exactly my "target" audience but I still want to learn how things work at their level, so that I can understand and learn if those, or similar, solutions can be implemented to the society at large.

 

…So, do I have any recommendations? Well, yes, if you really want some point of start. You are free to choose any of those below or many more out there:

 

To Make A Difference (TMAD) <http://www.tmad.org/> works towards needs in the domains of education, health, support to individuals and communities, Right To Information (RTI), and so on. You may want to join the Yahoo! Group if you are interested: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tomakeadifference/>. TMAD (I call it “Team-Add” instead of “T-MAD”) started as a group of individuals and runs on regular membership contributions and need-specific donations from donors, members and non-members. TMAD was also instrumental in forming a "syndicate" of likeminded groups titled "Birds of Same Feathers (BOSF)" and is working at larger objectives through this initiative. The best thing about this group is that most people are just individuals that take time and money out for this organization, and the group works on 0% organizational costs, i.e. the donations are used 100% to address the needs; all costs borne by members comes from their own individual pockets.

BhUMi <http://www.bhumi.in/> reaches the lower strata and society at large. Branch-off of Bharat Uday Mission (BM) in Hyderabad, as basic aim shifted from politics to social service.

Karmayog <http://www.karmayog.org/> is headquartered in Mumbai and is essentially aimed towards society at large, enlisting local efforts in various cities, and throwing light on various societal issues.
Youth for Social Change (YSC) is based in Chennai, and is working towards a better society in general through various awareness initiatives; most of the members are part of various other likeminded groups and share responsibilities and information. You may want to join the Google Group if you are interested: <http://groups.google.com/group/youthforsocialchange>

 

More, bigger (national-level) organizations:

India Literacy Project (ILP): <http://www.ILPnet.org/>
Association for India's Development (AID): <http://www.AidIndia.org/>
ASHA for Education: <http://www.ASHAnet.org/>
Foundation for Democratic Reforms of India (FDRI): <http://www.FDRI.org/>
Lok Satta Organization: <http://www.LokSatta.org/>
Mission Safer India (founded by Kiran Bedi): <http://www.SaferIndia.com/>
No Ragging Foundation: <http://NoRaggingFoundation.blogspot.com/>

5th Pillar: <http://www.5thPillar.org/>

Vote India: <http://www.VoteIndia.in/>

 

There are much bigger (international) organizations such as Red Cross, GreenPeace, Amnesty International, Child Relief and You (CRY), Children International, UNICEF, and so on that you can be a part of.

 

N.B.: In no way do I claim that the above list is exhaustive. There are hundreds and thousands of such organizations in India and abroad, thanks to which we are what we are today. Kudos to all the volunteers in all such organizations!

 

Lastly, I say this: I am an engineer, and therefore, if I don't know how to approach a scientific problem, what I'd rather do is see how others do it, and then if I can't still devise my own way of working out a solution, my best approach would be use a statistical approximation - perform an integral/summation over all possible solutions and therein is a plausible solution! That's what I do for real world problems too.

Is it the System or is it us?

I do write write loads and loads of messages in a lot of discussion fora. There's an inherent, unifying theme in nearly all my writings, nevertheless. I never highlight a fault with the system when the individuals that should run the system are faulty themselves. Unless the operators know how to run a machine, one should not try to repair the machine - it's bound to break down again, even if one repairs it successfully! We, the people, are the operators in a democracy, of course!

We, as individuals:

lack a lot of knowledge, information, and attributes,

do a lot of mistakes, individually and as a part of various groups,

follow a lot of unethical practices,

find fault with everyone and everything except what we feel our own,

find a reason to blame or rant and move on with a pseudo-satisfaction of achievement,

are filled with skepticism and hatred towards the System that we don’t understand,

ignore that we need to understand the System before we can even deem it dysfunctional,

think we can troubleshoot the System we do not know,

extrapolate and blow up our limited understanding of a part of our surroundings – only that we want to see – and think the whole Society is the same,

do not realize that We, the people, are the only ones to be ever blamed in a democracy; after all, we are the rulers!

forget that other individuals in the System can be wrong and then blow up that “individuals” to a “group” and that group to “Society” and that “Society” to the “System”.

 

Thus said, I have a trouble convincing people that individual-level reforms should come first. I really wish people do find a sound argument to explain why the System should be reformed first. And/or I wish that they would agree that finding individual-level solutions is more important, necessary, and effective compared to system-level solutions that no one wants to design, test-drive, implement, manage, troubleshoot, or even believe in!

Wikileaks: The other side of the story

No, this is not Wikileaks about Wikileaks. I don’t know anything about Julian Assange or Wikileaks, not even a fraction of what has been written in news all over the world.

First things first, I am not greatly awed by Wikileaks! There, I said it!! Why? The faith on the factuality of the content of the Leaks originates from the fact that we all hate our governments, we hate all achievers, we wait for someone to find faults with anything that seems perfect.

(Disclaimer: “We” is probably a majority of us and is still a gross generalization, I admit. This generalization continues through the rest of the article.)

Consider this: Wikileaks has released 50,000 documents against a country X. If anyone from the government in X notices that 49,000 of them are wrong, can they go public and say that out? The immediate question then is not “Why did Wikileaks cheat us with 49,000 fake documents?” The question from the citizens of X is still is “What about the other 1,000? So, you are agreeing that they are true, aren’t you?” Naturally, that’s what the question is when we are all like the citizens of X – we just hate our government so much! No one then cares about the 49,000 fake documents and the opposition parties too grill the government about the remaining 1,000!

Consider this now: A few documents reveal some shady situations with the UPA government in the Republic of India. The major opposition party, BJP, makes a hue and cry about it. The next day, a document against BJP is revealed. Why was it not revealed along with the other documents?! Is it not possible that Wikileaks is playing a political game? Worse, the game is probably being played by them not just in one country (like politicians) but in all major countries! And, while not realizing that we are dancing to their tunes, we want them to play more music!! Wikileaks is not just playing the music but is even choreographing the dance, in all the world!

Do I hate Wikileaks so much? Actually, no!! I liked it as a concept, that information pertaining to public should be revealed to public. In spirit, it’s very much like the “Right To Information” (RTI) that’s prevalent in India, for instance. While I do revere RTI as an important tool for democracy, I cannot say the same about Wikileaks. Reason? It’s, after all, a leak.

Picture this: You go to a movie theater. The ticket price is Rs. 50. There are no tickets left at the counter. You do find a black ticketeer selling you the ticket at Rs. 60 and you wouldn’t buy it for ethical reasons. The next week, there’s some government order that raises the ticket prices to Rs. 60. You still go buy it in the ticket counter and watch a film. The price is the same, monetarily speaking, but the ethical prices were different. Likewise, when you file an application under RTI, the information comes right from the government and it’s official. (For people who think the government need not reveal any shady deals under RTI, all I can say is to look up the success of RTI in various states. I’d write more on RTI later.)

Now, picture this: You go to a movie theater. The ticket price is Rs. 50. There are no tickets left at the counter. You do find a black ticketeer selling you the ticket at Rs. 60. So far, it’s all the same as earlier. Say, you do buy a black ticket at Rs. 60 (assuming you are not as ethical really, of course!) What if the ticket was fake? If the theater management doesn’t allow you to go in with a fake ticket, who do you point your finger at? Anyone? Even if you spot the black ticketeer, all (s)he’d say is that many others bought tickets from him/her and watched the movie. Do you have an argument against it? You just curse that fellow, curse the management and leave… and you do not curse yourself for getting the ticket illegally and unethically and even believing that you can sneak in that way.

So, I do think Wikileaks is a good idea but the implementation is what I am skeptical about. Let’s see how things turn.

Traffic Management - Hyderabad Police seek Public Interaction

The Additional Commission of Police (Traffic), K. Kaumudi, announced that the Traffic Police Deparment intends to conduct open house discussions on Traffic Management in the city on June 22, Sunday. The following are the time and venue in various zones:

Traffic Division #1: Mahankali Market, Gopalapuram, Chilakalaguda, Lalaguda, Tukaram Gate, Marredpally, Karkhana, Bowenpally, Trimulgherry, Bollaram police station jurisdrictions
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Venue: St. Patrick's School, Secunderabad (Near Manohar Talkies)
Concerned ACP: Jaya Rao (94906-16007)

Traffic Division #2: Panjagutta, S.R. Nagar, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Begampet, Ramgopalpet police station jurisdrictions
Time: 9 a.m.
Venue: Jaya Garden Function Hall, Somajiguda
Concerned ACP: T. Ram Sudhakar (94906-16022)

Traffic Division #3: Abids, Saifabad, Chikkadpally, Narayanaguda, Musheerabad, Gandhi Nagar police station jurisdrictions
Time: 9 a.m.
Venue: Ruby Garden Function Hall, King Kothi
Concerned ACP: A.K. Dubey (94906-16041)

Traffic Division #4: Begum Bazar, Nampally, Habeeb Nagar, Mangalhat, Shah-inayat Gunj, Kulsumpura, Tappachabutra, Asif Nagar, Langar House, Golconda, Humayun Nagar police station jurisdrictions
Time: 10 a.m.
Venue: Sabha Function Hall, Nampally (Right beside Nampally Police Station)
Concerned ACP: B.R. Baig (94906-16056)

Traffic Division #5: Old City, Sultan Bazar, Afzal Gunj, Amberpet, Kacheguda, Osmania University, Nallakunta, Malakpet, Chaderghat, Saidabad police station jurisdrictions
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Venue: S.S. Gardens, Nalgonda X Roads
Concerned ACP: T. Ramesh (94906-16083)

Agenda: (Estimated time of discussions: ~2 hours)
* Traffic jams - frequently occuring areas and solutions
* Parking - issues and solutions
* Suggestions for new one way routes in residential colonies
* Invitations to Volunteers and Traffic Wardens from among citizens
* Any other issues pertaining to Traffic

Attendees:
Representatives from
* Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)
* Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) & SETWIN
* Cantonment Board Members (in Secunderabad Zone only)

Please circulate this information to all individuals and organizations you know.

(Courtesy: Eenadu, Hyderabad Edition, June 20, 2008)