e-Text books for easy and timely access for students‏

National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), in a letter to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has suggested  releasing of digital copies of the text books on the websites of education departments and even schools, so that the e-books can easily be accessed by parents and students on time.

 This is the season of reopening of schools all over the country and the parents, often line up before the designated bookshops to buy text books for their children.  And the most common problem they face is that the books are often out of print and/or not available and the children have to wait for weeks and months before they can lay their hands on the text books. Sometimes due to short supply of text books they are sold on premium forcing parents to bear extra cost.  This affects their ability to cope up with the syllabus and has an overall effect of slowing down the system and bringing enormous parental anxiety

Nowadays, computer access is very wide and if the textbooks are uploaded on websites and allowed downloading of digital copies of text books, parents can arrange for printed copies to their children on time and nobody suffers by this.  It is an archaic idea that the text books are still to be printed centrally by a Government department and should be responsible for the distribution in the country".   

 Decentralizing this operation will not only speed up the distribution, but will also bring about timely access to the study material, cost saving, time and energy saving of the concerned departments responsible for finalization of tenders for printing and distribution of text books and no room for corruption in printing and distribution system."  

Releasing digital copies of the text books on the websites of education departments and even schools could trigger local business opportunities for printing the books in colour in any required format by the local entrepreneurs to keep up with the requirements. Apart from this it would save millions of rupees of the education department which can be utilized for up gradation of schools etc.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Cancer from within: the NGO betrayal

An innocent and poor nation has been attacked from within.  The NGOs have misused their opportunities, played conduit to mala fide foreign intentions and betrayed a free nation that has aspired sincerely to grow and serve its people.

An IB report that was submitted in January 2013 to the UPA Govt, detailing the anti development activities of many NGOs in India that have carefully created a positive image for themselves using foreign experts.  They have in all, collected over Rs. 85,000 crores and successfully opposed infrastructure projects, such as hydro electric dams, nuclear power plants, extractive industry, vital food imports and agriculture.  Only if these opposed projects had been allowed to complete in a timely manner and if the previous Govt had acted with any patriotism, India would not have been in the economic and social quandary it now is in.  

The anti national activities by majority of NGOs  is the biggest story of national betrayal in our history after Mir Jafar in 1757 betrayed our motherland to Robert Clive, making way to a foreign force to occupy the country for two centuries.  These NGOs picked up on the very projects that would change the fate of India and pulverized them with the help of foreign agents and foreign funds.  They operated a parallel economy and a parallel economic policy.   

The foreign benefactors of the dubious NGOs of India brought money for these traitors, in spite of their countries reeling under economic recession.  The foreign nations from where these collaborators came, did nothing to prevent them from trying to stall the growth of India.  They converged on one purpose - the degradation of our national development, which in other terms would suit them in their long run.  Their policy was - if you cannot grow yourself under difficult times, stall the growth of those resilient nations that have a potential to grow even under trying circumstances.  And the wagging tails within India fell prey to these machinations and wrote the story of great betrayal from within.

The growth of anti national NGOs in India is akin to malignant cancer, which would destroy us from within, if not diagnosed at the right time and removed with a sharp surgical knife.  Because of the irresponsible silence of UPA, the cancer has already begun spreading across the nation and has affected us tremendously.  Now that it has been recognized and understood, it is time to act decisively and bring discipline and order within the country.

We cannot afford another betrayal of the type of Mir Jafar, that would sell off the nation to the vested interests in the foreign lands.  We cannot stop growing and stoop painfully to the cancer within.  We need a countrywide effort to clean up the body of the nation.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Dance of sycophants: Mani Shankar Iyer's megalomania‏

The quintessential poster boy of Congress - Shashi Tharoor expressed a heartfelt appreciation of Mr. Modi for being inclusive in his approach and graceful as Prime Minister.  His own colleague from the Party with an acerbic tongue -Mani Shankar Iyer derided him in public space and said that MrTharoor has virtually joined BJP. Mr. Iyer's outburst is an expression of commonplace sycophancy of a rare intellectual in the Congress party. It will now be interesting to see how Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi will react to these right and wrong assertions of two elitist MPs of an obsolete political outfit.

What Tharoor said is an important diversion from the usual political opposition maintained by Indian political parties for the sake of opposition.  And what he said is true as truth can be.If Mr. Modi is doing well in the best interest of the country, why should the opposition oppose?  Particularly, Mr. Modi's efforts to establish an inclusive governance are a political virtue that need to be endorsed and not opposed. Iyer just wants Congressmen to oppose the Government, not realizing that such an opposition amounts to opposing the voice and mandate of the people of India.

Whoever thought that Congress may have learnt a lesson in politics from the inglorious drubbing at the polls is sublimely mistaken. As much as the people of India want a clean governance, they want a clean and responsible opposition. They want an opposition to bad performance, exclusive governance, lack of development and non-fulfillment of poll promises. Iyer's thesis of opposition is archaic and can only suit the foundation of sycophancy to his party.

It is interesting that Iyer did not oppose his party's coalition with Regional outfits that were built upon scandals and criminal records.  He did not oppose the massacre at Muzaffarnagar or the 'boys will be boys' statement of his ally, supporting rapists in the heartland of India.  He did not oppose a spineless defense policy and a doomed economic policy of the UPA.  But he chose to oppose a decent acknowledgement of an encouraging gesture of the New Prime Minister, who has only expressed in his public action the will of the people of India.

If Congress wishes to rise from its own ashes, it should learn to silence its sycophants in evolving as a responsible, mature and modern opposition.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Mischievous messengers of the media machine: peddlers of irrelevance

Sagarika Ghosh tweeted that Mr. Modi performed Ganga Aarti and prayed at Kashi Vishwanath Temple, but failed to visit  Mosque.  With this absurd and mischievous observation, she attempted to suggest that Mr. Modi is not secular.  How irrelevant and deliberately inciting this observation is!  If one belongs to a particular religion, he cannot be branded communal.  Being religious is not being communal.  Any person having faith in his religion would visit the shrine of his faith to pay respects to the almighty for the success he received.  Thanking divinity is a personal practice of faith and is not an act of communalism.  Being religious is not being religion-neutral.

The peddlers of irrelevance could have also taken objection to Mr. Modi's visit to his mother, immediately after the success at polls.  It is surprising they did not question his not visiting a motherly person of Muslim faith or another faith.  Submission to a mother and practicing a faith, are matters of personal choice and culture and have nothing to do with secularism or communalism. Highlighting one of these in an irrelevant  manner is a mischievous exercise of creating an un-necessary opinion and rift in the country.

Two English news channels ,  time and again proven its alignment with Congress and its elitist attitude, covered in mischief.  When reporting on Kashmir, they give undue importance to Mr. Lone and his divisive view points.  When debating the Naxal issue, they lionize Binayak Sen and his seditious dogma.  When analyzing the developmental needs, they groom Medha Patkar and her western supported agenda of anti-development.   

 The recent vote has marginalized the media created debate on secularism and communalism as irrelevant.  The majority of under-35 voters of India and the surge of 100 million new voters in the country do not care for the Congress peddled obsolete thoughts of casteism, secularism, communalism and the upper caste Vs dalit debate.  They know that Mr. Modi signifies the aspiration of the country and its developmental needs, beyond  such  mischievous incitements .  They know that you are free to practice your religion and pursue your faith in this new order of governance and society.  They know that it is shameful to try and derive two meanings from every word uttered or every action made. 

Peddlers of irrelevant thoughts should know that the old baggage of Congress ideas does not mean a thing to the new generation of India, whose only demand is development.  And Development is culture neutral, which brings in social equality and an equal opportunity for life.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Nitish ka 'Bhi haar'‏

It is often said - 'in the game of the fool, it is tragedy for the poor'.  Bihar has come to be that.  Governance in Bihar has become a game of the fool, alternating between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, with its people remaining poor and denied of any reasonably good livelihood. This resource rich state has been run as if an underworld enterprise is run by mafia lords.  Even in the election propaganda, their main issue was each other.   In fact, the JDU and RJD have held Bihar like their own inherited fiefdom.  The State that once was the seat of our ancient civilization has been reduced to an under-developed backyard of the nation, lorded by an insensitive and arrogant Chief Minister.

Nitish Kumar's arrogance did not end at lording his State to misery.  He often day dreamt of becoming India's Prime Minister.  Without a shred of ideology, he hobnobbed with Mulayam Singh , Mamta Banerjee and the likes, exhibiting an opportunistic political behavior and calculating his chances of occupying South Block.  He befriended Pakistan in order to appease the Muslims of the State.  He failed to address the Naxal threat or understand the needs for holistic development.  Carrying forward the legacy of RJD, he kept Bihar as one of our most backward States and denied it the benefits of 21st century India.

In spite of all the foolishness he exhibited, he might have been among the first people in India to recognize that Mr. Modi could surely become the Prime Minister.  I think that was the reason why he so violently protested when Mr. Modi's name was announced by the BJP as its Prime Ministerial candidate.  Then he made his worst political mistake of severing ties of JDU with BJP, mainly because his own ambition of becoming the PM would not be supported by the NDA as BJP had already announced their choice for the PM.  He over-estimated himself and grossly under-estimated Mr. Modi.

And now that Mr. Modi has swept the nation with his wave of patriotism and developmental vision, Nitish Kumar slid down the hill of despondency and resigned.  His resignation does not come in the background of any ideology or in acknowledgment of his inability to change the fate of Bihar.  It comes from his personal disappointment that Mr. Modi would now be the PM and from his personal embarrassment of not being able to face Mr. Modi in Delhi.

Good riddance.  Bihar is liberated now from the likes of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav.  Bihar too can now share the delight of joining Indian resurgence and hope to elect a development oriented Party and Chief Minister in the next election for the State Assembly.  A beginning has already been made by wading into the Modi wave and kicking out an opportunistic Chief Minister.

VK Saxena
NCCL
Ahmedabad

Faith and Filth - Varanasi's double extraordinary parade‏

I returned from Varanasi on 13^th, which rallied behind our future Prime Minister.  While people of Varanasi have given   a smooth road to success for the 15th Prime Minister of India, it is truly a bumpy road for those who trudge everyday in those lanes and by-lanes of this holy city.

A gynecologist relative of mine in Varanasi spoke about the hazards of reaching a pregnant woman to the hospital without risking an untimely abortion.  The potholed roads, unfinished bridges, bamboo poles for power lines, broken water pipes, dilapidated buildings, smell of roadside feces.... well, the city where the dead are cremated is a direct hell for those who live there.  In all the years of our independence, it does not appear that anyone truly governed and developed this city.

 If anyone wants to describe Varanasi in just two words - it is our capital of faith and filth.  Millions of Indians descend on the city to bathe in the holiest of our rivers and pray in one of the holiest of our temples.  They spend a lifetime planning for this pilgrimage and parade the streets in the intoxication of immense faith.  That is one aspect of Varanasi.  On the other hand, filth too parades the streets, the river and every open space of this holy city and the sights and smell appall you all the while.  By far, it is one of the most  filthy cities of India that I have known.

The cities of faith the world over - Vatican, Mecca, Karbala, Mashaad, Jerusalem, Bodh Gaya are all incomparably cleaner to Varanasi.  Our own Somnath, Mathura, Amritsar, Ajmer are far more cleaner and receptive to pilgrims than this high symbol of Hinduism.  With its metaphysical image of faith and physical image of filth, Varanasi is an injustice to the nation delivered by the successive Governments of  UP.

It appears that this city of faith waited to repose faith in the future Prime Minister of this country, to deliver it from filth to modernity.

V K SAXENA
PRESIDENT
National Council for Civil Liberties, Ahmedabad -

Physics of Law: Kapil Sibal's end game scholarship‏

Kapil Sibal  has invented a new stream of scholarship called the 'physics of law', wherein he uses words from physics to give a devious meanings to law, but finds himself vanquished by the 'momentum' of democracy.

He recently called Mr Modi a 'potential' accused in the so called snoop gate matter.  With the word 'potential' he nearly rewrote the fundamentals of jurisprudence.  For a senior lawyer and a law Minister to use the word 'potential', it is a disgrace in respect of the sense of justice.  He basically held Mr Modi accused by that word and also expressed subtly that he had the intention to hold  Mr Modi accused.  This is putting judgment before the judicial process.  If he were to have a longer tenure as the Minister of law than just 10 days that are before him, he would also find the 'kinetics' of his persecution on the 'potential' accused.

 Sibal came up with another word from physics, the 'spin'.  Just being unable to bat the spin that is being bowled at his party by the people of India, he has called Modi the spin master.  That confirms he accepts Modi wave and he now acknowledges that Mr Modi has conveyed through the people of India the spin of falling fate of Congress.

Kapil Sibal has also been caught in the 'dynamics' of his faux paus.  He advocated the so called snoopgate with such an enthusiasm that he even declared that he will appoint a judge to investigate Modi on the 'penultimate' day of his Party's rule.  The 'spin' of his 'potential' inappropriate 'action' caused many unfavorable 'reactions' for him.  His coalition partners isolated him and his party is in the 'orbit' of licking the wounds.  Before the Supreme Court, the woman who was supposed to have been snooped at, made a startling declaration  yesterday that she had sought for the protection of surveillance.  

Kapil Sibal fell to earth like a stone by his own 'gravity'.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad