July Magazine

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LETTER FROM THE EDITORIAL TEAM

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SIMPLE THOTS

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Simple Thoughts

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any people in India want to make a change for better tommorrow. Most of them are not happy with the current politics, education, administration and judiciary. Some of us just think...and think... few of us will do an effort. We are making an effort to bring together all these men under one community. we want to use this force to bring a substantial change in the governance of india.

THE NATIONS ONLY MONTHLY MAGAZINE RUN BY TECHIES

We started our journey from the IT Sector, we tried to reach the like minded guys, now we are heading towards students and people in other occupations. Dear Readers,

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How to rehabilitate beggars?

They were ubiquitous at market places, traffic intersections and other busy spots. But suddenly Chandigarh's beggars seem to have disappeared into thin air - perhaps in a bid to avoid a rehabilitation scheme! .....

Simple Thoughts invites all the students and like minded guys in various other occupations to join us. Register to the website and start posting your simple thoughts which can initiate the change in some proportion. We will try to implement your solutions in some capacity and will publish the results of the successful effort in our website and Magazine. Some of us are better at planning but bad at implementing, some of us are not having enough time to actually implement them. You can see your dream for change turning to reality here.

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The Only Possible Solution to Improve transport system.

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Is being yourself so difficult?

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The plight of farmers and the suicides

Very soon in the month of july when we release our "SIMPLE THOUGHTS" Magazine,we are planning to release two more magazines on the same day.

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Why I Am An Atheist

The Young minds - A Magazine for the Simple Thoughts of Students (60% content from students).

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YUVASHAKTHI (POWER OF YOUTH)

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Simple Thots @ Education drive @

We released an E- Magazine and also a demo hard copy on the name "SIMPLE THOUGHTS". We are going to introduce this to students and encourage them to post articles. we are also approaching influential people in other fields.

Yousufguda Government High School @

Website Designing and Development Rajesh Varma Magazine Designing Nagaraju & Rajesh Varma Content By Simple Thoughts Team

Logon to www.simplethots.com Register For Free and Start Posting your Articles. Monthly Prize for the best Article - 2000/- Rs

The Change - A Magazine for the Simple Thoughts of all Indians (60% content from Non-IT People). Simple Thoughts - A Magazine for the Simple Thoughts of IT people of india (60% content from IT People). If you haven't thought about the solutions of the problems you witness in your day-day life, you can start thinking now in 3 easy steps: Step 1: What do you think are the problems of our country? Can you list them? Step 2: What are the steps taken by the Government or the NGOs or any other individuals to resolve these problems? Do you think these solutions will work? Why are they not working? Do you have any suggestions? Do you have the right solution? Step 3: Now you have identified the solution of the problem. Write about the solution in detail to us at [email protected] Send your concerns\suggestions to us at [email protected] - Simple thots Team

SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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Life is all about…..

Is being yourself so difficult?

- Neha gautam I am sitting near the window with a cup of coffee in my hand. It's raining heavily. Even then the streets are busy. One can hear the cars honking and people moving around with their umbrellas and raincoats on. I remember at one point of time even I was the part of this crowd running around, Running for success, running for prosperity, just running as everyone around me was running. So, even I had to run, I could not afford to stay behind the crowd. For me running had become a normal phenomenon as I believed it to be the key for success. I had a strong belief that today's struggle will lead to a better future. Money was the key word for life. Got married but could never become a husband, had kids but could never become a father in true sense as I had no time for them. Life is too short to be spent in family drama, if I do something extraordinary I will be spoken of even when I am not there. This was a strong belief ruling my mind and my heart. "Work hard and party Harder" was the key mantra as these parties were the only way to increase the social circle and enhance networking. With all the effort and determination I excelled in the professional front, got a hike, got promoted. But there was something still lacking. I never had time to celebrate my success with my family. They were showered with all the materialistic aspect of happiness but could never explore the true meaning of it as it was lacking in the basic sense of belongingness. Time passed by and with it my hunger for more and more got aggravated. I was not satisfied. I was craving for something but didn't know for what. Was striving hard to find it out, achieve it, own it but was clueless. Today when I look back at my life, I have almost achieved everything in my life name, fame prosperity but there is no one to cherish it, acknowledge it. I thought that I was the winner in my life but I didn't realize that I achieved all this at the cost of the most valuable thing in my life and that was my family. I lost my wife two years back, both my children are settled abroad. I hardly get a call from them coz they know that it doesn't make any difference to me. Today after six months of my retirement when I have no one around I feel the pain, the pain of loneliness, the pain of departure. I have people around me but I don't have a family, I have all the temporal possessions today but one thing that I don't have is eternal happiness. This prosperity is of no use to me today as I have no one to cherish it with me. In the hope of better tomorrow I never enjoyed today. And at this point of time I have tears in my eyes coz I have no one to tell me that they care for me. Today I want to cry, I want to plead my children for the love and care that I never gave them. And today I know what was that one thing I had always been craving for. It was my eternal happiness; I did everything to find it out but never got an answer because I never had time to sit back and think about myself. I had a solution for almost everything but had no answer for my search coz I never spoke to my self, never listened to my heart and today I repent for it. I just have to say one thing, don't just lead your life live it. Feelings, emotions and above all relations are the real essence of life, explore it, love it, and cherish it. Money, name, fame all these are the most important aspects of life but not the only important aspects of life. Enjoy every moment of your life with your loved ones who really make a difference in your life. Breathe in the air that has a fragrance of belongingness. Nurture your life with love, treasure it before it gets too late and you have nothing left except for the salty tears.

-Neha Gautam Human mind is the greatest creation of God. We can feel, think and react at the same time. And in today's materialistic world where everything is so artificial we generally pretend not to be ourselves. As a result of which all these three actions are not in alignment with each other. We just love flaunting about things and bragging about being happy but, is it actually true?? Are we honest to ourselves??? People love to be self contended and feel proud about it. But it's easier said than done. At the end of the day the basic fact to be remembered is that man is a social animal and we need people around us, some of them are those with whom we are happy and some are there for the name sake. Still we need to be with them, that's life. Life never goes the way we want it to go so there are a lot of things that contradict with our feelings but still we have to go with it as it's the need of the hour. But we need to be expressive and open about our thoughts. It's just that we have thoughts in our mind but we are either not ready to express it or are afraid of the consequences. We come across things that really hurt us or disturb us but we are not ready to confess. It just keeps on piling within us disturbing us to the core. We get irritated out of it, get depressed, let the whole world know about it but we are not ready to find a solution to it. We run for help to all people around who are ready to sympathize but we always tend to forget that all the answers to these questions lies within us. It is just that we have time to talk about our problems to everyone around. But we don't have time to stop for a while and talk to ourselves. We have no time for ourselves .Is it the right thing to be done??? By doing this we are simply killing our inner self. It's good to be analytical, it's good to be practical but is it right to do so at the cost of fooling your soul?? You should be free to speak your heart out. Free flow of emotions from your heart to your mind makes your thoughts pure and that's when you can breathe in the fresh air of happiness. One should always have the courage to speak what is felt at heart and accept what is done. It is a common thing to be seen these days that people crave for attention, crave for sympathy and they actually don't do it because they are victimized by some incident or thoughts but it's just that they enjoy it. They get some kind of positive energy when people are there to listen to them and sympathize. But such people are actually digging their own grave by doing so. For them the people around them are the support system helping them to lead their lives. But they don't understand that they are killing their self esteem and their existence by doing so. It again boils down to the same point. Such people neither speak their heart nor mind. They just love being a part of the so called tragedy and crib about it rather than making a move to make a change. One person who can actually have an impact on your life or change your life is none other than "yourself". The whole world can take efforts to change you but it can only happen when you have the zeal to change, to face the change and be a part of the change. This is how one can be his very own true selves and be self satisfied and happy in the true sense. SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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Traffic management is a big issue in a city like Hyderabad that's constantly evolving, and the Traffic Police of the city come forward to discuss the issue with those that are involved in it the most we, the people! Conducted in five different venues on June 22, Sunday morning, at one location in each of the five traffic divisions in the city, the sessions emphasized the effectiveness of, and hence the need for, such “truly democratic” sessions that involved the public and the concerned government departments in an open discussion. With a brief introduction, a PowerPoint presentation of action taken on problems brought forth in a previous such session on March 16, brief intermittent comments, and concluding remarks, and grievances enlisted by the people of this traffic division, the discussion forum was essentially for the people, by the people, and of the people! Apart from the Traffic Police, representatives from Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and Society for Employment Promotion & Training in Twin Cities (SETWIN), and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were among the attendees; Cantonment Board Members participated in Secunderabad Zone alone, where it is relevant. Having attended the much-successful, near-three-hour long session in Traffic Division #5 of Hyderabad (Jurisdictions of Old City, Sultan Bazar, Afzal Gunj, Amberpet, Kacheguda, Osmania University, Nallakunta, Malakpet, Chaderghat, Saidabad Police Stations). I have no doubt that the other four sessions in the city were all more or less successful on the same scale!

Additional C.P. Mr. Kaumudi addresses the public Every individual spoke enthusiastically, while others waited patiently to add more to the list of issues that concern nearly every one of us. I was also impressed by the fact that the public came up with suggestions for solutions and work-arounds to various problems, offers to volunteer to help the government departments, and even suggestions for policy changes! Some such issues brought out in the session, along with suggested solutions are enlisted for public interest. See if these simple thoughts can drive towards a betterment of traffic situation in your area. Buses belonging to APSRTC and or SETWIN, both government organizations, are accused of frequent violations at traffic signals and of causing traffic jams at bus stops, where they stop right on the road without using the bus bay, while other buses that reach the same stop park alongside the first, instead of falling in a single file. Absence of “passenger guides” at bus stops is also resulting in people waiting right on the roads for buses than inside the intended shelters. Overtaking from the right side of the road, commonly using the central lane instead of the leftmost lane, and not letting two-wheelers overtake them are among other problems that APSRTC was pointed at. A request was also made to move bus stops farther away from crossroads in an attempt to avoid traffic jams. “So-called educated youth are causing most accidents and traffic havoc in the city. Curb that right at colleges and other places where youth are mostly seen”, points a youngster in his twenties. “Speed limits are displayed on the left side of the road, while speeding vehicles move nearer to the center of the road. Install the signboards on dividers where possible”, he adds.

Traffic Management: Open House Discussion Forum The agenda of the discussion forum was: w Traffic jams - frequently occurring areas and solutions Parking issues and solutions w Suggestions for new one way routes in residential colonies · Invitations to Volunteers and Traffic Wardens from among citizens w Any other issues pertaining to Traffic There were several problems specific to the localities covered by these police station jurisdictions, but most of the discussions were quite generic in nature and applied to everyone alike. After a couple of people addressed the official attendees and poured out the problems with traffic and related issues, a traffic inspector took over to give a PowerPoint presentation about issues that were spoken of on March 16, when the Traffic Police of Hyderabad had conducted a similar session in another locality of the same Traffic Division. I was personally much impressed by the presentation, which was written in English and was presented in Telugu by the inspector! What's more, one slide each was dedicated to a bulleted list of issues raised by an individual, along with the name of the particular individual, and a corresponding list of action taken on the issues ever since. I should admit that I was skeptical about the seriousness of the session, and I was wondering how effectively it'd achieve its intended purpose, but it was only until I witnessed the presentation. After seeing the way each individual's grievances were carefully written down and addressed, I was thoroughly confident that such sessions are very important and effective too! An added assurance came towards the end of the session, in the form of Additional Commissioner of Police, Mr. V.S.K. Kaumudi, who came to witness the session. Since there were five such sessions going on in five different corners of the city, I did not in the least expect the Commissioner himself to be going around to attend each of these sessions! SIMPLE THOUGHTS

A Lok Satta activist, Dikshit, speaks at the forum Another individual suggested community service as a penalty to traffic violations, and insisted that students should be made to control traffic for certain period each day right outside their educational institutions. The public identified several roads in the traffic division on which there were loose cables from poles, poles in the middle of the roads that were recently widened, dividers that needed to be opened up to reduce on-road time with shorter distances for U-turns, covered/uncovered manholes that were either higher or lower than road level, traffic jams at flyovers under construction, etc. Other common grievances included provisions for subways and footover bridges coupled with appropriate education to pedestrians instead of them using up road space, giving pedestrians the right of the road at zebra crossings and providing pelican signals at busy crossroads, traffic diversions at homes of VIPs that cause traffic jams in narrower residential roads, carrying oversize loads on two-wheelers, directing the traffic into appropriate lanes, use of blinding high beams particularly by 3

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cars, adding more one-ways at peak hours in certain roads, etc. Traffic police explained how “e-challans” are sent to government and private vehicles violating traffic rules, even if someone informs them over the phone, with a call to toll-free numbers 1072 or 1073, or to the Traffic Police Control Room 040-27852482.

There are approximately 5 lakhs of software engineers in India. Most of the Indian software engineers come from a middle class society. Hence each software engineer is a direct dependency for atleast 3 to 5 members of a family. The current society is divided on basis of age old classes divided by the ancestors, which is termed as caste by some portugese of late and the term is quite a popular one now. So we thought that as a software engineer community/caste, we will unite ourselves as a force to reckon. Most of the software engineers would have become doctors, lawyers, policeman, politicians etc. But it is the software boom and the middle class mentality, which suppressed or may be we can say that it limited the student imagination to software field.

An official reveals action on issues raised in March In order to avoid traffic congestions at theaters and temples, the public suggested that traffic constables should be posted at such busy locations at prime time, to direct traffic appropriately and to drive away footpath vendors, beggars and hogging auto rickshaws right at the entrance of such spots. Renting out space for private parking and/or encroached landscaping was suggested as an “official arrangement” to avoid traffic jam-packs in front of shopping centers, apartments, etc. Though the session can be termed a success, it was also noted that better publicity through announcements in residential areas a few days before the meeting, tying banners at the venue, etc. would have brought in more people to the venue. While an attendance of 150-200 people is encouraging enough, let us also remember that the traffic division covers substantial area of the city, and given the population density of an approximate 18,000 people per sq. km., the traffic division houses at least 50,000-1,00,000 people. Should we be happy that 150 among these cared to attend? Of course, yes, because simple thoughts and individuals' actions can bring a sea of a change soon! At the same time, the officials may also note that the participating community was more or less on time for the discussion but only a fraction of the officials were present at the right time, and the session itself started more than an hour late, thereby cutting into the extent of time that public were anticipating to talk.

The Simple Thoughts magazine is for all those software engineers and like minded people in other occupations, who want to contribute in the growth of the nation by broadcasting their thoughts on the current politics, sports, administration and education etc. Most of you are over qualified to be a software engineer and most of you also feel that you have something more to do for the nation rather than paying tax, so you can do it when you are meeting your fellow techie interested in doing the same. We provide the platform for you to broadcast your thoughts. Other than your opinions and discussions on various topics, the objective of the magazine is to promote and implement your simple thoughts. We are expecting that the simple thoughts given by you on various things can be started immediately in some proportion, even though the results are long term based.

Register to www.simplethots.com Post Articles - Share your “Thots” Be a Change Maker, email to [email protected] to join us SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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A message for every Indian from Dr. Abdul Kalam wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India? Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money. Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J.F.Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians..... 'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY' Let's do what India needs from us. Thank you, Dr. Abdul Kalaam

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a selfsustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such Achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The glory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that Self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours. YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.' YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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THE PLIGHT OF FARMERS AND THE SUICIDES pesticides" in what Indians drink and what mother's milk contains. But apart from the cursory reading of the suicide figures, there is still no attempt to come to grips with the issue of undeclared farm exit policy of Congress. Suicide figures are just figures to be read out in the Parliament. They hide the faces and the stories, of the farmers and the families of the suicidal farmers. The US Secretary of Agriculture also, deems it fit and appropriate, to compare the suicides of Indian farmers with the much smaller number of farmer suicides in United States, in the Indian capital, amongst the friends of Indian commerce federations, while trying to drum up support for the re-energized WTO and supposedly, still a Doha Round. Though of course, Europe and America look at Doha Round only as an attempt to revive WTO, and in reality, have more significant and pressing issues they would like discussed under the umbrella of WTO. Ask the suicidal Indian farmers, if they are optimistic to the same degree, about the success of Doha Round, and you are greeted with blank stares. They are already facing Doha on a daily basis in their homes. That some people are getting ready to foist one more Doha, this time done better, hardly elates the Indian farmers. What is shocking, is not just the lack of infrastructure but the lack of will totally. Whether the government machinery is trying come up with help for distressed farmers or causing them distress is a question. There was a need for a detailed analysis of the trends and the numbers that the govt puts out. I filed an RTI petition on 02-12-2006 with 'Revenue Department, Andhra Pradesh Secretariat' and asked them to provide detailed information on Farmer suicides including the number of genuine and non-genuine suicides. Some wise man rightly said, "Andhra Pradesh has a new government. But it also has its old bureaucracy. One that acts just as it did for years. With striking lack of concern on the farmers' suicides. So the proper count of their number and nature is proving chaotic. Many affected households have been recorded wrongly or not at all. But if that was to be expected of the state machinery, whatever happened to the panchayats? " The Department remained mum to all my questions giving a summary of numbers that was already out in the public. This was to mislead me and to obfuscate the facts. I ran around from pillar to post for 3 months. Even then, I was only to be rejected and softly threatened. I then appealed to the state Information Commission. After a hearing in the state commission which finally ordered that the information be sent to me as soon as possible. After six months, I received a reply of about 600 pages. The information only confirmed what I believed all along and that the Government was trying to hide numbers and project as if the situation is fast improving. My worst fears came true that night. No of genuine Suicides according to the reply were 723 and number of non-genuine 888 in just 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh in the 2.5 years rule of the new government. What could possibly be the reason for so many suicides of farmers and still be declared non-genuine. How can the number of non-genuine suicides be much more than the number of genuine suicides? I took it upon myself to find out. So I randomly choose to meet families of the farmers who had killed themselves and find out for myself. In most cases, I found out that the committee that declared the suicide genuine or not never even visited the family. Even if a farmer falls ill and borrows money for medical expenses only because he has no other source of Livelihood, that debt is not considered. The death will be counted as Non Genuine It was just not the numbers that had lied but the entire process itself. In order to keep the suicides under a particular mark, all the other suicides are conveniently put under non-genuine bracket. Compensation and Relief were announced in the state for the grieving farmer with great publicity but it is simply beyond comprehension on how the government

It is 2050 AD. We are in a history class. A student is asking his teacher,"Sir, where did these people called farmers live? What natural disaster made them extinct?” It is not exaggeration, but a sad reflection of the state of affairs today in the country. The situation will be no different if the govt continues to neglect farmers. Every govt comes to power announcing grand plans to help farmers and bail them out of the worst crisis that is plaguing agriculture in the country. What is the ground reality though? Farmer suicides continue unabated and productivity goes down each year. Let us take the case of andhra pradesh where farmer and weaver suicides have become a trivial issue. I was watching the story of a farmer suicide recently. The wife of this farmer says, "even though we all decided to die, my husband stopped us and drank he pesticide himself. He was dying because atleast me and my children can have a better life with the compensation". He is dying to give the remaining family a new lease of life. The YS Rajasekhara Reddy led Congress government came to power in Andhra Pradesh in 2004.Their trump card in the election was the farmer who believed in their promise of a farmer friendly government. Three years down the lane, nothing has changed in his world, he remains helpless and hungry. The suicides continue unabated and unfortunately the numbers do not seem to come down. The government claims that the suicides have come down and that deaths that are occurring are Non-Genuine. The government announced Compensation schemes only seem to be the tool for the people with a political clout; otherwise it is just not within the reach of a farmer to obtain his compensation naturally. He either does not have the money to bribe for it or he just does not have any more patience to pursue it that ending another life seems easier. And all the so-called genuine and non -genuine suicides cannot be reduced to a decade long favorite cause of drought. The reasons many and linkages innumerable. Agricultural and Finance systems seem to be virtually non-existent. Prices have pushed most inputs beyond the reach of the small farmer. The move from food crops to cash crops proved fatal. In some cases, the shift was towards high-outlay, water-guzzling crops such as sugar cane. All this, in an era of huge power tariff hikes. Most households have incredible levels of debt. Many had failed to gain the credit needed at the start of this season (one reason driving the latest suicides). All have seen crop failure for two or more years. Almost every one of them had made distress sales of land or cattle or both in the past few years. Most had changed crops in recent years. All of them had spent unbelievable sums in their search for water. Mainly sinking borrowed money in bore wells. All were selling their produce to creditors of some sort at well below market price. The situation looks grave. The government numbers on suicides seem just a formality and far from reality. The government even came up with a theory which says that the farmers have decided to kill themselves, so that their family will get the compensation."That the victims gave up after years of trying to cope with a situation made impossible by others beyond their control. After seven or more years of being crushed, defeated and ruined. People did not wake up one morning and say: Hey, the government has changed. I think I'll take my life today. Theirs was a heart-breaking, ultimate protest against a society that showed no concern for them. It would be right to haul up the new Government if it fails to give the state a fundamental directional change. About the cruelest thing being said, though, is that people are taking their lives to `gain' from the compensation. What a contradiction in terms. Lose your life and gain from it." Shri Sharad Pawar cursorily reads out the figures in Parliament and defends wheat imports from Australia and the "acceptable levels of SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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Agriculture in India Vs US

takes two years to grant compensation to the farmers family, time good enough for the entire family to kill themselves because of debts and hunger. And the rationale behind some farmers not getting compensation after it has been officially granted two years back and others receiving money as early as in two months needed to be investigated. It could be far from a mere coincidence. So, I took it upon myself and toured 3 districts in Andhra Pradesh and randomly choose families. These are some of the key findings of the analysis and the visits; 1. The Number of Non genuine cases far out numbered the genuine cases in most of the districts in the last 3 years. 2. The reasons given for treating the suicide as non genuine were absurd (such as debts for health, education and sometimes the land not being in the name of who is tilling the land) 3. There was unreasonable delay in the distribution of relief. It increased with time though the suicides came down according to the Government. 4. The Institutionalised credit facility is still a mirage 5. There is rampant corruption in the distribution of relief. 6. Most of the times, the committee is not even visiting the village and the investigation process itself is flawed. 7. The one time settlement as given Under GO Ms 421 is not happening. 8. The other provisions as spelt out in the GO Ms 421 are not being provided. I toured 3 districts of telangana a and captured some stories on video I have prepared research documents on the situation and even made corrective suggestions. Perhaps not as an expert by designation but as somebody who is committed to the cause of machinery sitting on a potential explosion and then it might just be a little too late. I found out that a deceased farmer's Family has to wait for about 8 months on an average to get the compensation. 85% of the farmer's debts are with Moneylenders. Banks are nowhere to be seen. For 60 farmers in Mahabubnagar district alone, it took over ONE year to give the relief fund, out of which 18 farmers got it after 1 1/2 Year and 5 farmers got it only after 2 years. Average percentage of money owed by farmer to private Money lender Vs nationalized bank and cooperatives is 85% to 15%. I am advocating corrective measures like : w Implementing the various money-lending Acts that already exist to prevent the alienation of the farmers land-holding. w To make the crop Insurance Scheme more farmer friendly, with lower premia and less red-tape w Renewal of the land's biodiversity to ensure the health of land and enable the farmer to cope with market ups and downs w Better health facilities in the locality since expenditure on health has been one of the most important financial drain in the village w Better education facilities at school level in the villages to enable better coping with a more technologically oriented agriculture w Quality checks on agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides to prevent cheating of the farmer by unscrupulous suppliers of industrial inputs for agriculture w Reliable agricultural advisories for farmers on farm related practises w Better access to markets for agricultural produce to get higher rates for farm produce

There is a heaven and hell difference between the living styles of farmers in USA and India. Very small percentage of population in America depends on agriculture unlike in India. This is because very few people are required to produce agricultural, horticultural, fishing and dairy and animal husbandry work in America. The reason is that these activities are managed by large scale operations with the most advanced technology, equipment and research support. Naturally, the productivity of American farmers is many times to that of Indian farmers. Given the high productivity of a farmer, the farmers earn quite a lot unlike in India where most farmers are poor, illiterate, operate small farms, cannot apply high technology associated with commercial farming. Since American farmers are rich and agricultural labor is subject to high minimum wages prevailing in US (as compared to about $2 a day, American minimum wage is above $6 an hour), their life styles are different. They have good houses, ride automobiles, have electricity, fridge, TV etc at home. Have access to medical AND HEALTHCARE AS ARE AVAILABLE TO URBAN AND CITY DWELLERS. FARMING FAMILIES ALSO HAVE ACCESS TO BEST EDUCATION. Employment In 1870, half of the US population was employed in agriculture. As of 2006, less than 1% of the population is directly employed in agriculture. In 2004, of the 145 million employed workers in the US, 834,000 of them held jobs as agricultural workers. 83% of these jobs were as farm workers. The median hourly income as of May 2004 was $7.70 for farm workers planting, growing and harvesting crops, and $8.31 for farm workers tending to animals. Now some data about American Agriculture: U.S. agriculture has a high yield relative to other countries. The yield was (in 2004): Corn for grain, average of 160.4 bushels harvested per acre (10.07 t/ha) Soybean for beans, average of 42.5 bushels harvested per acre (2.86 t/ha) Wheat, average of 43.2 bushels harvested per acre (2.91 t/ha, was 44.2 bu/ac or 2.97 t/ha in 2003) The major livestock industries in the United States are: S Dairy Cattle S Beef Cattle S Swine (also called hogs or pigs) S Poultry S Sheep Inventories in the United States at the end of 1997 were: S 403,000,000 chickens S 99,500,000 cattle S 59,900,000 hogs S 7,600,000 sheep Goats, horses, turkeys and bees are also raised, though in lesser quantities. Inventory data is not as readily available as for the major industries. For the three major goat-producing states (AZ, NM, and TX) there were 1,200,000 goats at the end of 2002. There were 5,300,000 horses in the United States at the end of 1998. There were 2,500,000 colonies of bees at the end of 2002. Nine common types include: Cash Grains includes corn, soybeans and other grains (wheat, oats, barley, sorghum), dry edible beans and peas, and rice. S Tobacco S Cotton Other Field Crops includes peanuts, potatoes, sunflowers, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, broomcorn, popcorn, sugar beets, mint, hops, seed crops, hay, silage, forage, etc. Tobacco and cotton can be included here if not in their own separate category. High Value Crops includes fruits, vegetables, melons, tree nuts, greenhouse and nursery crops, and horticultural specialties. \ S Cattle S Hogs S Dairy S Poultry and Eggs S Governance Agriculture is both a federal and a local responsibility with the United States Department of Agriculture being the federal department responsible. Agriculture is an extremely powerful interest group in American politics and has been since the founding of the USA.

Unless we take charge of the situation now , I am not quite sure of a Solution.

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Government aid includes research into crop types and regional suitability as well as many kinds of subsidies, some price supports and loan programs. U.S. farmers are not subject to production quotas and some laws are different for farms compared to other workplaces. Labor laws prohibiting children in other workplaces provide some exemptions for children working on farms with complete exemptions for children working on their family's farm. Children can also gain permits from vocational training schools or the 4-H club which allow them to do jobs they would otherwise not be permitted to do. A large part of the U.S. farm workforce is made up of migrant and seasonal workers, many of them recent immigrants from Latin America or aliens working under work permits. Additional laws apply to these workers and their housing which is often provided by the farmer. A farmer's life, no matter in what country is easy. The main difference between these two countries is that USA is a developed country with a GDP per capita of $45000, while India only has $3000. There is more help in America with machinery; while the farmers in India rely on lower class people to do some of their field work. Then when it comes time to sell, American farmers usually have a better outcome, as compared to India based on value and competition. In addition, the weather in these two countries differs as well. In my opinion, Key Long Term Objectives w To create a forum of experts who will be able to provide technical and market information services to the farming community, private and public sector organizations involved in the food and agricultural sector. w To identify motivated agricultural graduates and provide training and project services to enable creation and sustainable working of agribusiness clinics. w To enroll a large number of professionals working actively in the sector and enable them with information and consulting services to add value to their enterprise. w To source information on technology and markets and provide it to the farmers through agribusiness clinics. w To expand the usage of ICT by participants in the agricultural sector particularly the small and marginal farmers. w To promote and consider measures for the promotion and advancement of the trade, export, sale and consumption of agricultural and allied products manufactured in rural India. w To build new linkages for marketing of agriculture produce by helping disintermediation of trade channels to benefit farmers. w Developing online/offline information dissemination channels to reach the target groups. w To conduct studies and action research projects on post harvest technologies and marketing of agriculture produce. Short Term Milestones w Create a city/ center wise network of functional experts. These experts will be classified according to their domain specialization, eg. Horticulture, vermiculture, pathology, entomology, etc. We estimate the population of experts to be of the order of 5,000 and we target to have at least 25% on our panel within 2 years. w Enroll at least 150,000 Agribusiness professionals as associates within 5 years. The professionals can be unemployed graduates, progressive farmers, manufacturers, service providers, buyers and customers of agricultural products and services. w Help set up and manage agribusiness clinics by providing training, course content, know-how and managerial inputs. This will also include helping entrepreneurs to arrange finance and launch services. SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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Provide consulting and educational services to the participants. The participants will be able to use the forum to submit their Request for Proposals (RFPs) and the panel of experts will then respond with specific proposals. ISAP will act as the facilitator that will bring the service users and service providers together. Enter into strategic alliances with information service providers to source market information. How IT changed the lives of rural youth

How IT changed the lives of rural youth When we reach his home in Kandukur village in Andhra Pradesh, 21year- old Nukathoti Kondaiah serves us bottled mineral water, freshly cut fruit and cold drinks in plastic cups. That may not seem such a big deal but earlier in the day Kondaiah had trudged a couple of hours in the sweltering heat to the nearest grocery store to buy these luxuries. Next month he will begin work with Wipro as a trainee in its software department, taking his mentally-challenged mother with him for treatment. We talk under the shade of a banyan tree surrounded by a crowd of villagers who treat Kondaiah like a celebrity. An eight-year-old fidgeting with the photographer's camera says he'd like to be Kondaiah when he grows up. The odds couldn't have been less in his favour when the teenager's father died young, followed as suddenly by the deaths of his siblings. "She went mad," he says of his mother's ill-health, "I'm her only hope." Life wasn't kind to the family. "My parents earned Rs 40-50 a day as coolies at a farm," he says. On his father's death, he moved in with his uncle, also a coolie. "I ran errands along with my studies to earn some money," he recalls. The family's annual income was Rs 12,000, but Kondaiah's job at Wipro will fetch him a package of Rs 3.5 lakh. "It's the beginning of a beautiful dream," he smiles, "I can't wait to join." He will leave behind his uncle and the one-room house that measured all of 80 steps when I walked around it. And a prayer for the Jawahar Knowledge Centre (JKC), an initiative of the Andhra Pradesh government which, in 2005, began to pick up enterprising students from rural backgrounds to offer them training in IT hardware, software and networking. Set up as labs with high-end computers and software systems in rural colleges in Andhra Pradesh, these centres are especially attractive because they offer on-campus recruitment. In a country where education is still considered a matter of good fortune, the concept of JKCs with campus recruitments by renowned IT companies is an unimaginable hope for youngsters from the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. In his matchbox sized house in Nellore's slum area, Prasad Chintala hugs his mother who washes utensils and clothes in people's homes for a living; his father is a rickshaw puller. "My parents are illiterate but my mother wanted to educate me. She would enquire about private schools from homes where she worked and supported my education," Chintala tells us. The 100-sq ft, one-room house is simultaneously bedroom, study, dressing room and puja room for all three of them. Chintala's clothes occupy one shelf, right next to his books; his parents' clothes are bundled in an old trunk. "My mother got me new clothes but wore second- hand sarees herself," Chintala says, itching to earn his first salary so he can buy her a new kanjeevaram. The 21-year-old engineering student whose family income is Rs 14,000 per annum, will be able to afford it when he joins Infosys next month on an annual package of Rs 3.5 lakh. "He's my only strength, my only wealth," his mother tells us, "I was willing to do anything to educate him." His father recalls the neighbourhood rickshaw pullers scoffing at them for wasting their hardearned money on his education. "Today they praise us for our efforts," he says, while Chintala's brother-in-law, a pest control worker at a local cinema hall, frowns at our conversation. "If my parents could, 8

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they would have educated my sister too," Chintala says. "I know being a male child I was lucky." He may have been the butt of jokes among the members in his extended family but no one's laughing as he heads for Infosys and life in the big city now. Far away from Nellore, in Mumbai's Thane area, Srinivas Maggidi has been working with TCS as a software engineer for a year. He shares his apartment with boys from Andhra Pradesh, none of whom know that his father was a coalmine worker and his mother a daily wage labourer in paddy fields. "I don't like talking about my background," he smiles wryly. Like Chintala and Kondaiah, he was lucky to be born into a family determined to educate him and his younger brother despite crippling financial constraints. "When I earned my engineering degree, my father asked, 'Can I call you an engineer now?'" he says. But that joy was short-lived: he waited six long months before landing a job. "Those were terrible times for my parents. They were under heavy debt because of our education," Maggidi says, recalling how his father would gasp for breath and writhe in pain that raced up his knees and legs after nine-hour shifts at a coal mine. "I remember crying, I was so angry we didn't have money," he wipes away tears. By the time Maggidi was able to stand on his own feet, his father had lost the ability to walk forever. And though he wanted to be an aeronautical engineer, Maggidi shifted to software when TCS offered him a placement. With an annual package of Rs 3 lakh, Maggidi is now educating his sibling. As the youngest member of a team creating a multi-crore project for cellular phone service providers, he keeps Rs 4,500 for himself, transferring the rest of his monthly allowance to his parents' savings account. "I like the opportunities that Mumbai offers but there are times when I fail to convince my friends I can't afford to watch movies or party on weekends," he says. It's the reason he works overtime in his office with just a 15-minute lunch break in the canteen. "I was initially intimidated by people in my organisation, their confidence, the way they spoke English," he smiles briefly, "but I'm learning to cope." His own parents' limited exposure makes it difficult for him to explain his working environment to them, as a result of which he sometimes feels alienated both from his colleagues as well as his immediate family. It's a sentiment shared by Sunil Kumar Reddy, a poor farmer's son, who has been working for two years with Computer Associates in Hyderabad. "There are times I'm too busy to take my parents' calls and yes, I do feel the need to have my own space, my own independence. But I have to constantly remind myself that I'm in this position, earning Rs 5 lakh per annum, only because of my parents," he says. Kanuparthi, the village in Andhra Pradesh where he was born, is still to get a bus service, but Reddy says the big city has changed him in many ways. "I buy clothes, watch films, I enjoy myself." He will marry in August; his fiancee works with an IT company in Chennai. He admits it's ironical that though his sisters weren't educated beyond the 10th grade, he was unwilling personally to marry anyone who was not a working professional like him. "I feel guilty my sisters couldn't study because of me," he sighs, but says he'd like to help educate his sisters' children, and would himself like to have a daughter. In Nellore again, we meet Sridhar, who is set to migrate to Hyderabad. Sridhar's life came to a standstill when his bus conductor father died in an accident. Within months of that, his sister committed suicide. His mother took to working as a domestic help, supported by her husband's meagre pension, while he hoped for scholarships to keep his education going. "The day I got the offer letter from Satyam [Get Quote], I saw my mother smile after years," Sridhar says. He's ready to shift to the state capital, not least because he needs to clear debts worth Rs 2 lakh very quickly. "I'm taking my mother with me," he says, holding her protectively. His friend Hemachand too will be migrating to Hyderabad as a computer SIMPLE THOUGHTS

engineer for Satyam on an annual package of Rs 3 lakh, and says he wants to take his grandfather on a holiday. Hemachand's father succumbed to mental instability when he incurred losses in a business venture. "There was no money in the house and it was my grandfather whose pension saw us through those times," he says. Sometimes stories are difficult to end. For unlikely heroes like Chintala, Maggidi, Reddy, Shridhar, Kondaiah and Hemachand, their journey into a world we take for granted has just begun. Their families' annual incomes cover probably the cost of one meal, or a couple of trips to the beauty parlour, barely a fraction of the cost of a break from work for many of us. Their stories, therefore, need to be told; need to be heard. Their journey has just begun. How could we possibly call it the end?

Role of Youth in the Socio - Political Transformation of the Country. Satyendra Dubey, Manjunath Shanmugham, Lalit Mehta and the list goes on. Thousands of unsung heroes are sacrificing their lives for what they believe is their duty to better this nation. Do these 3 names sound familiar? Do they ring any bells? May be the 3rd name is a little unfamiliar. Here was a young man in his mid thirties. He had a degree from one of the prestigious engineering colleges in the country. Yet he chose to work for something that was very dear to his heart. Lalit Mehta, a 36-year-old- member of the Right to Food and Right to Work campaigns in Jharkhand, was brutally murdered on 14th May 2008. Mehta had been working in palamu (one of the poorest districts in India) for more than 15 years. His work was widely appreciated. However, he was fearless in exposing corruption and exploitation, and often came in the way of vested interests. He is gone. But his virtues remain and are like guiding lights to all of us. He was a young man like any of us. He had dreams, dreams of having a better nation for himself and his future generations, to see a more egalitarian country, to work for what he believed was his duty. In fact all three of them show us the path, the path of righteousness, fearlessness and the tenacity to stand up against injustice and corruption. Why do we need youth to standup today? Is this country any different from yester years? Where is it headed? 30% of the population in this country is living largely independent of Government and politics. So much that the parties or the governments do not affect their lives. They don't generally vote. They crib about the govts and politics. They don't stand up and question. The other 70% are struggling for 2 square meals a day even after 60 years of independence. They are depending on government for their lives and livelihoods. Ironically, they are the ones who vote. It is regrettable that only the country's poor and low-income groups exercise their franchise, while the middle and upper class segments, secure in their comforts, display a marked indifference towards elections. The younger generation could ill-afford to insulate themselves from politics. Are the 70% in a position to stand up and fight? Whose responsibility is it to lead this struggle? We have to stand up and take lead. Fight for them and also for us. Friends, it is time we stand up and get counted. We need more of Lalits. We need more Suryams of Rudraveena (a very popular national award winning telugu Movie) The Time is Ripe: 50% of population below 25 and 66% is below 35 years of age. With the changing economy and increased opportunities, youth has conquered

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literally everything. But there remains a sector where we are still a minority and we shun away from talking about it. It is nothing but politics. Most of you will easily understand when you answer the following 2 questions. 1. How many of you have done charity? (Donating, going to orphanages, old age homes, helping people in need etc) 2. How many of you think of politics and even nurture a dream of changing it? And how many of you know what right to information is? "The Institute of Politics found that college students are engaged in their community, even if they are not involved in political activities. Nearly 66 percent volunteered recently in their community and more than 40 percent volunteered at least a few times per month, while fewer than 10 percent volunteered on a political campaign. Moreover, 85 percent of students believed volunteerism is an effective form of public service to solve problems on both local and national level (Institute of Politics 2002).” You can see it for yourselves. We all do charity. We all want to change the things. But sadly for most of us, it stops at charity. Gandhiji used to say,I asked you (young man) to go to villages and bury yourself there. Only feeling will be of no use just like steam which by itself is of no account, unless it is kept under proper control-when it becomes a mighty force. I ask you wounded soul of India." This is a paragraph from “A call to Youth” written by Gandhi has given to the youth of this country in the process of social transformation. It should not stop at charity. We should be change agents, Catalysts in the socio political transformation of this country. We should think of the root cause and try to address the same. We need a revolution - a political revolution where youth takes center stage. Is doing charity a selfless thing? In my view, we are all selfish. We are all selfish about having a better world for ourselves. A better country to livein. What is our role and why youth?? - As Vivekananda said, Supreme value of youth period is incalculable and indescribable. Youth life is the most precious life. Youth is the best time. The way in which you utilize this period will decide the nature of coming years that lie ahead of you. “ Vivekananda would say "Give me 100 energetic young men and I shall transform India", Such was his belief in the young minds and Young people. When Probably the greatest Youth icon says that youth only can transform this country, I think we should stand up and take note. Youth was the prime actor in the process of socio-political transformation from the undemocratic, irrational, fragmented, hierarchical structure to the democratic, rational, united structure based on equality which Gandhi envisaged for independent India. Now, what do we do and how can we contribute and take part? First and foremost, go and register as a voter. Get your identity cards. Go out and vote. Know the value of using your franchise. Elect judiciously. What is Politics? What does Politics mean to you? Is politics about winning elections the wrong way? Is it about using money and muscle power? Is it about corruption? May be 90% of us stop here and think of politics as this dirty Game. It has to be understood that politics is not just running the government, but also problem solving, taking charge of the issues that plague the country in general. It is like any other job. You have deliverables, deadlines and outcomes. It is also like any other business where you rate your success on the profits. The only difference here is your success is rated on the social aspects of it. Based on how many lives are changed for better, how many people are better off etc. SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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Unfortunately the representation of youth in the parliament and law making bodies is minimal. A mere 6.6% of the loksabha MPs of the fourteenth loksabha are below 35 (that comes to a mere 36 out of 545) where as the percentage of population below 35 is 66%. The story will be no different in the assembly. The word politician envisages an old, tired and worn-out individual but, in general, we hardly think of youngsters as politicians. Many of us regard politics as "quicksand" where if one gets in, will never be able to come out. Due to this wrong notion, politics is definitely not one among the diverse career options chosen by the youngsters. Why is it so? Have we taken for granted that the politics of our country will never change? Is the only aim of young men and women to settle down in life through a well-paid job and a happy married life? Well, many of us portray youth as `cool, young and happening' but we fail to realize the potential and capacity of the young blood in reforming our age-old politics. As such, a prudent reason for the youth not entering politics is the misrepresentation of the youth as `cool, young and happening' and entering into politics or even discussing it is considered as a waste of time. A very less number actually possess a voter identification card and even lesser number actually go to vote, all of which results in a degraded majority and a wrong party on power. And then, with a frown on their face, the same youngsters moan," Our country will never change". Ironically, the media too feels so and concentrates more on presenting what the youngsters are `interested in' and accordingly, their interest does not lie in the "Indo-US nuclear deal" or Assembly elections and apparently, lies more in Salman-Aishwarya break up or Tom Cruise's forthcoming movie. That is one of the important reasons why PageThree journalism sells like hot cakes. We need to change out priorities. If doyens like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru hadn't had the vision of a free India, we would still have been bonded slaves of the British. The strenuous efforts of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and many such young freedom fighters of our country have brought us the freedom, which we are enjoying today. But the political leaders are enjoying this freedom a little too much and we, the people are disastrously affected. It is us, the youth, the future citizens of the country, who can make the difference. As the new Airtel ad puts it " One act of defiance-- can spark a revolution". We have to start somewhere. Lets start today. Because time would never return. Lets realize that the time is ours. Understand politics. Take it as you would take any other subject. Understand the deficiencies, learn to question wrongs and you will have done a great favour. Start working on smaller issues. Some issue that is close to your heart. Learn to question. Learn to findout the rootcause and also the remedy. It can be anything from traffic problems, roads, water, rations and anything and everything. Appreciate the struggles of people. I would like to end by quoting swami Vivekananda “Rouse yourselves, therefore, or life is short. There are greater works to be done than aspiring to become lawyers and picking quarrels and such things. A far greater work is this sacrifice of yourselves for the benefit of your race, for the welfare of humanity. Young men, my hope is in you. Will you respond to the call of your nation? Each one of you has a glorious future if you dare believe me. Have a tremendous faith in yourselves, like the faith I had when I was a child, and which I am working out now. Have that faith, each one of you, in yourself--that eternal power is lodged in every soul--and you will revive the whole of the country”

What type of democracy is better for a nation like ours? Our president and the PM are never directly elected by us. Our votes sometimes go waste if the candidate we vote loses. This is the intersting topic that

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COVER THOT

EDUCATION

Education is essential, a majority of people agree. “Education is uncovering the truth that's already in the human mind”, said Swami Vivekananda. What does that mean? That everyone of us is educated but that we need to realize it first, and then try to “uncover the truth”. In this process, one should realize the subtle differences between words like “education”, “literacy”, and “knowledge”. While literacy refers to the ability to read and write, it does not guarantee any realization of Truth; knowledge refers to knowing things, but that's a stage that comes after realization! The gap between the two words is bridged by “education”. You read, write, comprehend, and understand, and finally know, but the discretion of good and bad is the application of knowledge, and that's what education essentially is! Indian society may boast of an ever-increasing percentage of literates. However, we need to realize that for India to develop, we need to produce not mere literates but educated individuals! Majority of individuals in our circles have at least a Bachelors degree, but how many of us are really educated?! As “educated” folks, the least we need to do is identify that education is not something that we learn in schools and colleges! Our household, family, friends, and the society at large all these teach us each day of our life, and there are books and other resources all over the place. Education is a purely interactive process: sometimes you interact with your inner self, and such introspection helps you discover things that you never realized that you knew! Ancient Indian education system that produced great scholars and offered numerous degree programs thousands of years ago in the then-famous universities at Takshasila and Nalanda. Numerous political attacks weakened us in the medieval era, and we may thus have had other priorities than produce scholars. With the advent of British era, we were in such a position to not even resist a new education system that was designed to make us mere yes-men! Creative arts and skills became “hobbies”, and “caste” lost its real meaning and merely became a tag of discrimination. There are no kings or warriors today, but we still call them Kshatriyas. Brahmins today are not all priests, and all merchants are not Vysyas either the converse is true too and so on. This social discrimination worsened the situation further, and created fissures among our people. Interdependence of people lost itself to independence and dependence, and Community got dubbed as caste, quite a misnomer! Today, most of us do not seem to realize that society is a conglomeration of communities that coexist and depend on each other! In the urge created by identity crisis of some sort, people today are losing, albeit unknowingly, their essential identity as “human beings”! What makes us different from animals? The ability to speak, of course, and the ability to think! We also essentially differ from our close “relatives”, chimpanzees, in at least one other way: Education! All animals, including humans, learn struggle for existence and survival of the fittest makes them all learn, or they get crushed by Nature sooner or later. But, some scientists state that only humans have the ability to pass on knowledge to others peers and next generations and we thus do not start our “learning curve” at zero anymore! This passing on of knowledge, of course, is a part of education! In other words, if we cannot learn from or teach others, we are not justifying our existence as human beings! In today's cut-throat competitive world, how keen are we to imbibe, inculcate, or impart knowledge in others, and how obedient are we to learn things from superiors, peers or subordinates? An adage puts it aptly: an individual who lacks education is a (strange) animal! So, what is education? How do we simply teach it at schools or colleges or even in our own homes? How does one know that education is successfully imparted? Unfortunate it may seem, but fortunately really, there are no answers to these questions! Education is one's own quest of truth that cannot be carried out or chauffeured by someone else! Sure, teachers, parents …literally everyone in the society, and the society itself everyone and everything in this society has the right and duty to take part in this essential process of life, but all these are only pointers. Needless to say, this is a continuous process all through one's life. Profound or philosophical it may seem that's what it is really but that's something we all do already: only, we should realize that we do! Pursuits in life are all at an individual level; education is just one of them! And, we hope Simple Thots is one such resource, and caution that it is just one of infinite such resources!

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EDUCATION

Simple Thots @ Education drive @ Yousufguda Government High School @ 10:45 It's not a regular drowsy...sleepy saturday morning for us. We felt quite energetic, eyes filled with passion, legs eager to make a move to the world of change that we desire, we were 3 in number. We were confident about the change we are going to make today. We entered the school at around 9 'o clock, we spoke with the primary school teacher regarding our interest in taking classes to the children. Information on Yousufguda Public School: l l l

The school runs in shift system, 1st 5th standard from morning 7:30 to 12:30. Mid-day meal program starts at around 11:45 The school infrastructure is good and is located at the yousufguda junction, which is a very easy place to be located and well connected.

“School needs some more teachers, the strength of the teachers is very less compared to the 1000 odd students studying in the class”. We were waiting for our friends to join us, Finally 20 of us grouped in a class room. We did some initial preparations to know our individual approach towards the students, so that we can learn the good things from each other. There were some very useful conversations. This was our Simple Agenda (We had some chocolates as gifts and carried few charts with us) We implemented all the events as per the planning but the teachers had their individual approach on implementing them. The timings that were mentioned were not maintained because of circumstances. List of events: Exercise on teaching them the pleasure of making friends We will begin the day by introducing us… My name is Rajesh… I work as an engineer What do u know about engineer…what will an engineer do I like writing songs…listening songs…playing cricket..

SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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EDUCATION

How many of u like them… same pinch for all the similar tastes…… How many friends …u have to tell the count and their names…. The one with maximum friends in class a special chocolate.. 10 mins to go across the class… introduce u r self to as many as u can… know their names.. if u don't remember … write them… one who makes more friends win a special prize. So by 10-45 … u know children… children know u… Now a small session on a topic Topic will be decided depending on the class addressed. Ex Digestive System… we will take lot of photo copies… print outs… given to groups of children. Session will be for 30 mins 11 - 15 Learning in a group is encouraged here… We asked them to draw pictures and text about - what they like and dislike at home and school? What they want to be in future and how they are going to serve the society? They have to collectively do it. They will tell us why they liked it… By 11 50 the task is completed 12 12 : 15 Some songs and dances by children By 12 30 they go for lunch 1:30 (Story telling …) We tell them a story that we frame … with some questions on moral behaviour following it. It will be for 20 mins 2:00 Now students frame stories….every student tells a story for 1 min…other friend follows it for another 1 min. After 5 mins…the better story formed wins prize 2:30 Again a session on one of the topics Indian Geography or Mathematics or History 3 3:15 Good bye to students (We will take their experiences about the day… what they liked in the day… what they remembered)

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Can we do this on a Regular Basis

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EDUCATION - If there are computers in the school ..it wud b gud - We advise our 6th class students who r having english medium to score more marks than the private schools, we are little bit unhappy of not knowing english but we r confident about learning. What do u want to do for the society.. - We will discuss about the good and bad in the society and will make a better society - I want to help old people - Everyone shud b educated...i will educate the people on the values of education - I wanna bcome doctor and serve the poor…the confidence i inject thru my words in the patient cures the disease 50% - We need to help others in need... we need to help the physically disabled what wud u like to bcome..

We started our classes at 10:45 for 1 5th class and at 1:30 we started classes for 9th and 10th class. (First session: 10:45 12:00 and Second Session 1:30 5:00) What Children say… What we like in school… - We like the teachers, they teach us well What we don't like in the school...

- I wanna b a engineer but my parents are not interested

- In our school …sanitation facilities are not proper...primary school chidren r spoiling the toilets

- I want to become a doctor and serve the nation

- I want to be a social teacher in our school - bank manager,police officer, singer, beauty parlour, teacher, lawyer ... we want to become

- We want some more teachers in our school - There is lot of garbage in the school…we don't like it

- I want to become a teacher and the same time i want to become a singer and dancer

- Lot of sound pollution outside…which comes into the class room.

- I WILL be a doctor and make people aware of various medicines available...many people are suffering bcoz of lack of information - I want to become a police office..i dont say everyone in department are gud...there is gud and bad...i dont say i will do good to the nation...i will atleast make an effort that i can do some good in my street little wishes..

- There is lot of disturbance it the school...we don't like it. - There are no benches for 6th class children... we don't like it. - Lack of drinking water facilities. - We dont like the child labour system in schools...kindly do something for this... - I dont like that teacher bcoz she sleeps in the school. - I like playing games. What we like in home...

All my class mates shud reach pinnacle in their life If i am a collector...if there is a child labour anywhere...i will bring them to school and punish the people.

- My brothers make lot of noise and i like it - Our home is small...so we live close 2 each other - i like my father ...bcoz he never quarrels with anyone..he never smokes...he never drinks

i will see that there is enough water for farmers...if there is any illegal liqour ..i will punish them...i will tell all that everyone is equal...i will see that government help reaches all

- eating and watching TV What we don't like at home... - There are many people quarelling in our house surroudings. - My father drinks a lot and comes to home. - cleaning utensils after eating food - My father is a trouble to me ( a 9th class girl says so) - There is not much cleanliness in the home and the surroundings...we dont like it - quarrel between mother and father What can be developed in school.. - We need some more teachers in the school

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Courtesy@http://yannone.blogspot.com by Ken School and Before leaving India, Barun escorted me to the old fort town of Kesroli in Rajasthan province, just outside New Delhi, where we had an amazing experience witnessing the difference between private and government country schools. The story makes a beautiful statement about the dedication of students, teachers, and parents dedicated to a better life in a country that is in a state of rapid transformation. From a hilltop fort in Kesroli we noticed classes being held on the rooftop of a nearby building. When I started waving to the students, the kids noticed and started waving back. That's when we got the idea of stopping in for a visit. We were warmly received by this private school's teacher and her class of students. The man who owned the school taught the younger kids and hired the woman to teach the older kidsa total of about 50 students. Each student paid a tuition of about a dollar (US) a month for a full schedule of classes which included social studies, mathematics, science, English, Hindi, and Sanskrit. So the total income shared by these two teachers amounted to about $50 US per month. These vibrant students were planning all sorts of careers as doctors, businessmen, teachers, scientists, cricketeers, etc. The teachers strongly encouraged them to seek higher education and professional careers. Next we decided to visit a government school. Barun and I were met by the Headmaster, under the watchful eyes of his ultimate Headmasters, Nehru and Gandhi. The students were in well-ordered lines, stamping in unison and saluting to our visit. There are about 400 enrolled, though a large number were out in the fields this day, helping with the harvest. The students are offered facilities, free tuition, and a free meal for lunch. There are 10 teachers, sometimes with classes as large as 150 students.

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Teachers are civil-service employees, each paid about $200 US per month. So the pay for 10 teachers is $2000 US per month. Thus, each teacher is paid four times as much as a teacher in the private school we visited. Teachers in the government schools are rotated to a new school every two or three years, and in addition to teaching duties are often required to conduct ballot and census-counting duties throughout the countryside. When asked what these students' plans were for higher education, we were told by the teachers that none of them would go on for any education beyond elementary school. We were told that class enrollments drop dramatically after the first couple years of schooling. So why would parents in a very poor community pay money for their kids to go to private schools when the government schools were free? In a paper published by Barun's Liberty Institute in New Delhi, James Tooley provided some interesting insight: "When researchers called unannounced . . . only in 53 per cent of the schools was there any 'teaching activity' going on. ... In fully 33%, the head teacher was absent." Tooley says the same was true of private schools that operated on government grants. But the unaided private schools were a sharp contrast in vitality and learning. Indeed, Tooley found that these private school students, when unaided by any government funding, showed test scores in reading and math that were twice the levels of students in the government schools or in the government-aided private schools. He concluded that the significant difference was in the accountability of owners and teachers to paying customers. Barun Mitra commented to me, "The teacher in the private school was more keen on ensuring that his students went to high school, and further. Another interesting point about the private school was that for grade 7 and 8, the school fee was $2 US. But with around $50 US, net income, the owner was still willing to offer free tuition or discounts to students who could not really pay. The owner felt that these children were his neighbours." Tooley observed that virtually anyone could afford the tuition, from rickshaw pullers to fruit sellers, yet up to 20% of the school spaces were held for those who couldn't pay even that much. My heart went out to these dedicated private-school teachers, students, and parents. I have their address and plan to make contact again. Imagine what they might do with a laptop! In the meantime, they taught me a lot about the future of India, a country that is in rapid transformation and growing rapidly because of private initiative.

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Why I Am An Atheist A new question has cropped up. Is it due to vanity that I do not believe in the existence of an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God? I had never imagined that I would ever have to confront such a question. But conversation with some friends has given me, a hint that certain of my friends, if I am not claiming too much in thinking them to be so-are inclined to conclude from the brief contact they have had with me, that it was too much on my part to deny the existence of God and that there was a certain amount of vanity that actuated my disbelief. Well, the problem is a serious one. I do not boast to be quite above these human traits. I am a man and nothing more. None can claim to be more. I also have this weakness in me. Vanity does form a part of my nature. Amongst my comrades I was called an autocrat. Even my friend Mr. B.K. Dutt sometimes called me so. On certain occasions I was decried as a despot. Some friends do complain and very seriously too that I involuntarily thrust my opinions upon others and get my proposals accepted. That this is true up to a certain extent, I do not deny. This may amount to egotism. There is vanity in me in as much as our cult as opposed to other popular creeds is concerned. But that is not personal. It may be, it is only legitimate pride in our cult and does not amount to vanity. Vanity or to be more precise "Ahankar" is the excess of undue pride in one's self. Whether it is such an undue pride that has led me to atheism or whether it is after very careful study of the subject and after much consideration that I have come to disbelieve in God, is a question that I, intend to discuss here.

question is coming before the public for the first time, and is being handled in this matter of fact way for the first time, hence this lengthy discussion. As for the first question, I think I have cleared that it is not vanity that has led me to atheism. My way of argument has proved to be convincing or not, that is to be judged by my readers, not me. I know in the present, circumstances my faith in God would have made my life easier, my burden lighter and my disbelief in Him has turned all the circumstances too dry and the situation may assume too harsh a shape. A little bit of mysticism can make it poetical. But I, do not want the help of any intoxication to meet my fate. I am a realist. I have been trying to overpower the instinct in me by the help of reason. I have not always been successful in achieving this end. But man's duty is to try and endeavour, success depends upon chance and environments. As for the second question that if it was not vanity, then there ought to be some reason to disbelieve the old and still prevailing faith of the existence of God. Yes; I come to that now Reason there is. According to. me, any man who has got some reasoning power at his command always tries to reason out his environments. Where direct proofs are lacking philosophy occupies the important place. As I have already stated, a certain revolutionary friend used to say that Philosophy is the outcome of human weakness. When our ancestors had leisure enough to try to solve out the mystery of this world, its past, present and the future, its whys and wherefores, they having been terribly short of direct proofs, everybody tried to solve the problem in his own way. Hence we find the wide dufferences in the fundamentals of various religious creeds, which some times assume very antagonistic and conflicting shapes. Not only the Oriental and Occidental philosophies differ, there are differences even amongst various schools of thoughts in each hemisphere. Amongst Oriental religions, the Moslem faith is not at all compatible with Hindu faith. In India alone Buddhism and Jainism are sometimes quite separate from Brahmanism, in

Because our forefathers had set up a faith in some supreme, being-the Al mighty God- therefore any man who dares to challenge the validity of that faith, or the very existence of that supreme being, he shall have to be called an apostate, a renegade. If his arguments are too sound to be refuted by counter-arguments and spirit too strong to be cowed down by the threat of misfortunes that may befall him by the wrath of the Almighty-he shall be decried as vainglorious, his spirit to be denominated as vanity. Then why to waste time in this vain discussion? Why try to argue out the whole thing? This

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ARTICLES

which there are again conflicting faiths as Arya Samaj and Sanatan Dharma. Charwak is still another independent thinker of the past ages. He challenged the authority of God in the old times. All these creeds differ from each other on the fundamental question., and everybody considers himself to be on the right. There lies the misfortune. Instead of using the experiments and expressions of the ancient Savants and thinkers as a basis for our future struggle against ignorance and to try to find out a solution to this mysterious problem, we lethargical as we have proved to be raise the hue and cry of faith, unflinching and unwavering faith to their versions and thus are guilty of stagnation in human progress.

This is a phenomenon of nature. The accidental mixture of different substances in the shape of nebulace produced this earth. When ? Consult history. The same process produced animals and in the long run man. Read Darwin's 'Origin of Species'. And all the later progress is due to man's constant conflict with nature and his efforts to override it. This is the briefest possible explanation of this phenomenon. Your other argument may be just to ask why a child is born blind or lame if not due to his deeds committed in the previous birth ? This problem has been explained away by biologists as a more biological phenomenon. According to them the whole burden rests upon the shoulders of the parents who may be conscious or ignorant of their own deeds led to mutilation of the child previous to its birth.

Any man who stands for progress has to criticise, disbelieve and challenge every item of the old faith. Item by item he has to reason out every nook and corner of the prevailing faith. If after considerable reasoning one is led to believe in any theory or philosphy, his faith is welcomed. His reasoning can be mistaken, wrong, misled and sometimes fallacious. But he is liable to correction because reason is the guiding star of his life. But mere faith and blind faith is dangerous: it dulls the brain, and makes a man reactionary. A man who claims to be a realist has to challenge the whole of the ancient faith. If it does not stand the onslaught of reason it crumbles down. Then the first thing for him is to shatter the whole down and clear a space for the erection of a new philosophy. This is the negative side. After it begins the positive work in which sometimes some material of the old faith may be used for the purpose of reconstruction. As far as I am concerned, let me admit at the very outset that I have not been able to study much on this point. I had a great desire to study the Oriental Philosophy but I could not get any chance or opportunity to do the same. But so far as the negative study is under discussion, I think I am convinced to the extent of questioning the soundness of the old faith. I have been convinced as to non-existence of a conscious supreme being who is guiding and directing the movements of nature. We believe in nature and the whole progressive movement aims at the domination of man over nature for his service. There is no conscious power behind it to direct. This is what our philosophy is.

Naturally you may ask another question-though it is quite childish in essence. If no God existed, how did the people come to believe in him? My answer is clear and brief. As they came to believe in ghosts, and evil spirits; the only difference is that belief in God is almost universal and the philosophy well developed. Unlike certain of the radicals I would not attribute its origin to the ingenuity of the exploiters who wanted to keep the people under their subjection by preaching the existence of a supreme being and then claiming an authority and sanction from him for their privileged positions. Though I do not differ with them on the essential point that all faiths, religions, creeds and such other institutions became in turn the mere supporters of the tyrannical and exploiting institutions, men and classes. Rebellion against king is always a sin according to every religion. As regards the origin of God my own idea is that having realized the limitations of man, his weaknesses and shortcoming having been taken into consideration, God was brought into imaginary existence to encourage man to face boldly all the trying circumstances, to meet all dangers manfully and to check and restrain his outbursts in prosperity and affluence. God both with his private laws and parental generosity was imagined and painted in greater details. He was to serve as a deterrent factor when his fury and private laws were discussed so that man may not become a danger to society. He was to serve as a father, mother, sister and brother, friend and helpers when his parental qualifications were to be explained. So that when man be in great distress having been betrayed and deserted by all friends he may find consolation in the idea that an ever true friend was still there to help him, to support him and that He was almighty and could do anything. Really that was useful to the society in the primitive age. The idea of God is helpful to man in distress.

I ask why your omnipotent God, does not stop every man when he is committing any sin or offence ? He can do it quite easily. Why did he not kill war lords or kill the fury of war in them and thus avoid the catastrophe hurled down on the head of humanity by the Great War? Why does he not just produce a certain sentiment in the mind of the British people to liberate India? Why does he not infuse the althuistic enthusiasm in the hearts of all capitalists to forgo their rights of personal possessions of means of production and thus redeem the whole labouring community-nay the whole human society from the bondage of Capitalism. You want to reason out the practicability of socialist theory, I leave it for your almighty to enforce it. People recognize the merits of socialism in as much as the general welfare is concerned. They oppose it under the pretext of its being impracticable. Let the Almighty step in and arrange everything in an orderly fashion. Now don't try to advance round about arguments, they are out of order. Let me tell you, British rule is here not because God wills it but because they possess power and we do not dare to oppose them. Not that it is with the help of God that they are keeping us under their subjection but it is with the help of guns and rifles, bomb and bullets, police and millitia and our apathy that they are successfully committing the most deplorable sin against society- the outrageous exploitation of one nation by another. Where is God ? What is he doing ? Is he enjoying all I these woes of human race ? A Nero; A change (changez): Down with him :

Society has to fight out this belief as well as was fought the idol worship and the narrow conception of religon. Similarly, when man tries to stand on his own legs, and become a realist he shall have to throw the faith aside, and to face manfully all the distress, trouble, in which the circumstances may throw him. That is exactly my state of affairs. It is not my vanity, my friends. It is my mode of thinking that has made me an atheist. I don't know whether in my case belief in God and offering of daily prayers which I consider to be most selfish and degraded act on the part of man, whether these prayers can prove to be helpful or they shall make my case worse still. I have read of atheists facing all troubles quite boldly, so am I trying to stand like a man with an erect head to the last; even on the gallows. Let us see how I carry on : one friend asked me to pray. When informed of my atheism, he said, "During your last days you will begin to believe". I said, No, dear Sir, it shall not be. I will think that to be an act of degradation and demoralization on my part. For selfish motives I am not going to pray. Readers and friends, "Is this vanity"? If it is, I stand for it.

Do you ask me how I explain the origin of this world and origion of man ? Alright I tell you. Charles Darwin has tried to throw some light on the subject. Study him. Read Soham Swam's "Commonsense". It shall answer your question to some extent.

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DISCUSSIONS

Should india go for a Presidential system of administration like Unites States young people are debating now a days. In an era of coalition politics, this assumes a greater importance. Simple thots has seen different young people express their opinions. Here is what they say, Chandra says, “I personally feel that the presendential sytem is a boon. We will be choosing the prime minister directly by casting our vote. All the major parties should be announcing their heads well in advance. The National parties are doing it right now, but the alliances can never confirm us,who is going to lead us. The personal interests of the parties will have less influence on the head of the government when he is directly elected.Most of the times,the national level parties will be contesting for it.Hence the national interest will be safeguarded to some extent. We dont want anymore sleeping minister or puppets in the hands of the party heads,we want a right person with full commands to govern us. I strongly feel that we shud go for Presidential system. India should become United States of India and all the party heads (whether it is a prime minister or a chief minister) should be eleceted by the people. Otherwise political dramas like the one that happened in karnataka will repeat again and again. I think that "Presidential system of USA" is a must for a country like india where the prominence of regional parties is increasing day to day. We want a party to do governance for complete tenure of 5 years,Reelections are very costly and will create a delay in many projects. Presidential system gives the leader a confidence on his postion,where as teh current system is creating a fear in the mind of the ruler,because of more coallations” Ravishankar disagrees with Chandra and says, “ I disagree with this thought. The other side always looks greener. the complaint with this kind of ruling is the connectivity of governement to ordinary citizen. when power is centralized there is a great scope for corruption” Saravanan seconds Chandra's thoughts by saying, “I am not very good at Politics. I feel that it is a good choice to have Presidential Way of voting is done. One more thing is that, there should be a rule which makes sure that once a coalition is formed there should no chance to leave it till 5 years. There should be no re-elections during this time frame” Roops also agrees with the thought, “hey..u r right ...bt jus we thinking about this wont help...we need to work on it also...bt I am scared our politicins wud never think on this ground ” Ganesh says, “I too like the idea Just think if all the 800 parties in India compete for this post ok leave what about the 11 coialations or just think about the 7-8 National parties in India It will be a mess !!! the first thing needed is to bring all these to 2 or 3 parties as public representatives ... ” Naveenchand takes the example of karnataka to support the presidential form of Democracy, “Take Karnataka. After the 2004 Assembly elections, the state had three chief ministers from different parties in three and a half years. They could not do anything worthwhile to address Bangalore's infrastructural woes, which drive investors away. The new international airport is ready, but the connectivity issue is yet to be resolved. The ambitious BangaloreMysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project was bogged down by personal animosity between JD(S) supreme H D Deve Gowda, who held

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considerable sway over the government, and BMIC Managing Director Ashok Khenny. It was only after obtaining a favorable verdict from the Supreme Court that Khenny could resume work on the project. The three chief ministers(B S Yedyurappa was in power only for a week) did nothing to resolve the festering river-water disputes with Tamil Nadu or border disputes with Maharashtra. Things underwent a dramatic change after Governor took over the administration of the state. Work on major infrastructure projects like Metro Rail and Expressway to new airport are taking place at a much fast pace. Problems of people get resolved fast at the mass contact programmes (janata darshan) of the Governor and his three Advisers. Files move faster at the Vidhana Soudha. Well, why do we need politicians to govern the state?” Though there is an overwhelming majority which favours the presidential form, both the systems have their merits and demerits. India is a fairly successful democracy with 60 years of rich democratic heritage. It is time we think of the negatives of the present system and try rectifying them. Also to be looked at is the FPTP system of elections. The term first past the post (abbreviated FPTP or FPP) was coined as an analogy to horse racing, where the winner of the race is the first to pass a particular point on the track (in this case a plurality of votes), after which all other runners automatically and completely lose (that is, the payoff is "winner-takes-all"). There is, however, no "post" that the winning candidate must pass in order to win, as they are only required to receive the largest number of votes in their favour. This sometimes results in the alternative name "furthest past the post". There is a need to review the FPTP system as the votes that losing candidate gets go waste and do not count. Indian Cricket Vs Remaining Sports The favourite topic for television news debates is Cricket Vs Remaining Sports. Specially when something like IPL has topped the TRP charts leaving even the saas bahu soaps far behind. Hundreds of hours of air time is spent on debating this. Is cricket the culprit? Is it killing other sports? Or is it the other way round? Just that the other sports administrators don't have it in them to market. Simple Thots started the discussion on this topic and some very intersting points were raised leaving the discussion without a winner. One of them says “We are against the IPL. The timing of IPL is not good, We don't want to comment on the intentions. Atleast a few sponsors would have come forward for the rescue of the olympic team. Now that IPL came to picture,success or failure of IPL is the cover story of magazines. If we dont expect medals then how can we actually get them.Why doesn't the media focus on the sports person participating in olympics a lot. After all its a competetion played between hundreds of nations,whereas the cricket is a game played by 10 odd countries.” An other one disagrees saying “Media cannot concentrate on each and every individual as there will be close to 200 people going to olympics from India. And they(190 out of 200) themselves know that they cannot win a medal. Earlier we have seen how Leander paes, karanam malleswari, rathore got recognisition. Even PT Usha who dint win a medal also got the focus. And coming to cricket people had lot of passion on the game and obviously it will get the hype. No matter how many countries where cricket is played but Cricket is the game where India produced stars” Roops takes a diplomatic stand saying, “Well media concentrating on olympics is not the criteria,,As said INDIANS know only more of

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Readers comments on “How to stop corruption” Article

CRICKET CRICKET n CRICKET ..they are not much interested in other sports...they don’t want to have knowledge of other sports...I can say only few of them wud be interested in knowing what is the status of Indians during the olympics, but whereas u talk about cricket...they are damn crazy bout that..u can see the televisions ON all the time anywhere and everywhere..first its the individuals,,we the INDIANS..who should have the zeal to encourage other sports also..then can we point it out on the media capturing the events and bout winning medals...its not only winnig always...loosing the game also teaches us lots and our Indians have performed at real good times...So we are here to encourage them anytime and everytime.” The debate continues as to who is to blame for the state of other sports in the country. But the one thing we can be sure about is that the associations are again run like political organizations with politicians at the helm. Unless this changes, its hard to see the road ahead for other sports.

Chandra_LP Our education system should sow the seeds of honesty, sincererity, regularity, loyalty, punctuality, respect towards Nation, National Anthem, National Emblem, elders..etc in the minds of students from the early ages only. They should not stop it just by saying, teachers also should practice them and make the students to practice also. In each and every class some lessons should be incorporated in the syllabus which gives the essence of these things. Gifts or more marks should be given to those who practice these things. So that students get mould to them and get habituated. Students are the building blocks of the Nation. They are the Future India so they should get much care and attention. As blood in the in the body, corruption is also prevailing in each & every part of the country. In the government, in the common peoples mind and in every one. We can't blame a single department or a single committee & community. Every one is responsible for this present situation. Now its our responsibility to change the situation, transform it completely 'from Corrupt India to Correct India'. Transformation should come from each & every person. Don't think of immediate benefits think of future. According to Kautilya Fish in the water and the Government servants both are alike. As fish can't survive without drinking water similarly a government servant cant live without taking bribe. Incentives scheme is good to some extent. Whistle blowers program is already there in the departments but it is not much in use (I feel so) due to fear or may be any other reason. Earlier in Tirupati only one line used to be there and every one used to go in that only. Few staff of that temple used to take bribe and let them go in different short-cut route. It was a corruption and we are calling the staff was a corrupted men But what the Government did.. brought new concept like special darshanam Rs.1000/- Rs.500/- Rs.100/- Rs. 50/-per ticket. Don't u think this is corruption I will say definitely this is corruption. Taking the advantage of the busy devotees Government or TTD has thought this will give more income for them and planned to loot the devotees.. Devotees those who have money are buying those tickets and having the Sri Lord Venkateshwara darshanam without any difficulty. Pasricha I think it was not the constable in the traffic police office who was responsible for the corruption. Here comes a share from both of sides. If the one is not willing to be corrupted, the other one can never. Yes you are right that the time is money for you, you would have lost more than 100 rs the time you bargain with those crooks. But it's we who have to be in forefront to stop us and for us we have to pay more to stop it rahter than becoming victim. But think of the day when a Polica man comes to know and sets it as habit that a educated person is not going to bribe instead is going to complain certainly, he will definitly change his mind to be noble rather than corrupted. Hope this comment puts some positive energy and motivation to stand against these things next time… Phani Start publishing photos in all the news papers with a special edition related to these special crimes. Dont forget mentioning the details of the people involved in. This kinda thing is going to bring a kinda fear in the people to dare commit a crime (either corruption or any thing).Most of the people involved in corruption are generally from big league.So they shy for their pics in the local news papers and should fear of commiting the same. We already had so many national channels managed by DD network. Start a new session in dealing with these criminal and post adds related to

My College Days ....! - Ravi. Three years (2001 TO 2004)just passed by like the waves in the sea. Some moments I still cherish for they are still afresh. There were lot of thoughts, little money and big big dreams. As I walked in the corridor, my heart started beating even faster. Any body could guess I was from FIRST BATCH. Finally I was dropped in the classroom and sat next to a girl. She was pretty, she smelled rose. I just closed my eyes and smelled her more. Then I turned and saw more of girls. I was happy I was glad for this was the best place I could have had. Lot of handshakes lot of stories, lot of friends and very little study; it went on till Lunch. Now it was more fun. In the canteen 20 of us, single cigarette for all of us. Two Samosas and a chai that was what all of us had. Soon came the Next Year, or should I say the time for ragging. All juniours were ragged in BUS and inside the College, but still they were sportive all the time. It went on for a month but it was all fun. We Came to FINAL Year & Sub Juniours Came..On the fresher's day, we drank, smoked and danced We enjoyed while in the class. Teased the lecturers, threw chalks. Ate chocolates, played games and never listened. Bunked the classes went for movies. Sometimes hanged in spencers other wise rested in Friends Rooms. There was little money more of love.Then came the scary exams, the last minute notes, the night outs, getting behind girls for their notes and finally waking up just 20 minutes before the exam.Finally the results were out But nothing changed on the academics side, Finally the placements came, and all of got jobs. It was now the final day, all of us were in tears. We thought would disappear our chit chats in the stair cases, our laughter in the canteen, the bottle of wine, the small cigarette, the borrowing of money, the late night talks, going for date and finally the circle of friends. Today….there is money lots of it…there is a big bungalow…and lots of cigarettes; But no friends. Friends I miss you all and my good old College days.

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the notorious crimes from the CBI and R&W directories.

and as the power is in their hand. wen sme wrong is done to your peer worker or labour we all get united to do a strike… but the same thing doesn’t happen on the ground that we all belongs to a same mother land… First each and every person needs to be strong enough to stop corruption! still India needs to travel so far to achieve this..But if the professionalism m concept as we follow in the corporate atmosphere would have taught to the Government employees wen they join it, the corruption rate may reduce… hoping for the best Gnanesh Inspite of punishing the corrupted employees, corruption will still continue. the best way to stop corruption can be done only if the public stop giving money etc in order to get their work done. the most affected victims of corruption are the poor.

Well…corruption is starting from the ministers office to the attender. Each and every person passing a specific file is taking bribe and giving bribe. This is not a simple issue like a weed in our backyard which can be removed by just sprinkling the weed remover. Even though it works for that season the new weed starts coming up from the remained roots. This is how the corruption in India is. Justifying the theory and how it works… Just consider a citizen who wants to be a police officer(conista ble/SI/DSP/SP/ anything)for this he writes the entrance exams and prepares well for the physical tests and in the end was short of a few points. The other person who scores the same or even less gets the job. The reason is the other person who is talented in bribing and corrupting the officers. And in return to the bribed money he starts taking bribes after signing into his post. this is a general and most often happening . Sivakumar I think the more we stop human intervention by using the technology, the more we can reduce the corruption. Even in case of traffic tickets, there should be a system where if we give the ticket number and the details (like in the above case, the insurance number and details) the system should be in a position to validate and decide and collect the fine if there is any. This is already implemented upto certain extent in some countries. We can evaluate, enhance and adopt those systems. Yogesh Gandhi I will tell u an incident what happened to me. My insurance was going to expire on 22nd May 08. The last valid day was 22nd May. So I asked my friend to get it renewed on 19th May itself. But I couldn't collect the new copy from him. On 23rd May I was challaned by a traffic police, because I didn't had insurance with me. I asked him, he said, you show the insurance in the traffic police office and u will not be fined. I went there with insurance and showed it to them. They said Rs. 100/- would be fined. I said for what? The police officer said that I can't be fined, if i have the insurance of that date. But those guys were not ready to listen. Moreover they were trying to irritate me by saying that this job is done from 3 to 5. So, I paid them Rs. 100/- and collected my RC. This is a real problem in our system. I didn't have so much time to mess with them just for Rs. 100/-. So, I paid the amount, took my RC and came to my office. Though I was feeling bad abt it. Manikantan People give money bcoz ,with their busy life they save the time ,if they doesn't give money the employee don't work, he will lazily post pone it .I am not supporting corruption but situation forces the person to give money, so that the work will be done quickly. The action should be taken on employees who ask money for doing things. If he doesn't ask money for doing work the person won\'t give. So who took money will be punished severely and who gave money get penalty for encouraging the corruption. Ram_Alavala To stop the corruption there will be an ultimate solution first what is the major place for getting more corrupted. If we try to automate it this can be the corruption can be reduced. Think about the Atm m/c,offcourse before ATM came into picture there is chance for corruption to move the cheque or draft quickly to the next level. May be it is a small part, offcourse a big change can be started with small things. Mrinalini.Srivatsav Though if we stop giving money the people seek bribe treat us very badly

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Engineer/Doctor Is There Another Scenic Route? - courtesy@http://savekerala.blogspot.com “So do you want to be an engineer or is it a doctor?” - a compulsory question that is repeated in every social cross examination that you face from age 8 to 18 in God's Own Country. Parents in Kerala across socio-economic strata want the best for their kids…sometimes even to the extent of this being an obsession. So the logical conclusion is that they strongly believe engg/med is the best possible career option for their kids. So here is an attempt to demystify this… Starting with how this belief got so deep rooted into the Kerala mindset and more importantly why it is not so in other states…. Reason 1: Ignorance: Most students in Kerala cities, from a very young age itself are aware of the process of getting an admission into engg/med and the specializations on offer. By the time they reach high school, they would at least know about the companies that come for campus placements (if your interest is in engg) or the well renowned institutions that offer higher studies in various medical specialties. There are clearly defined action plans starting from which coaching classes to attend, what entrance books to read, infrastructure of various colleges and due dates of various exams. However, when it comes to pure sciences or arts/commerce the usual modus operandi is to apply to several different courses in colleges close to your house and join whichever comes through. Before, during or after the 3 years of so called education no thought or effort is put in to frame a future game plan. By which time, you are branded as a failure which demotivates you even further. We can change this situation if sufficient information is made available not just in career guidance magazines which you lay your hands on when it is too late…but during school years itself, on specific career paths and steps needed to reach there. Come to think of it career options are much more wider if you are not an engg/doc !!! Reason 2: Infrastructure : The second thing we need to get in place is good infrastructure a good library and internet connectivity. We always seem to concentrate on good teachers and while I am not negating the positive results of good teachers, I never had any during my engineering years. We still managed fine because we had good alternate sources of knowledge. So, while improving the quality and dedication of teachers is a long term solution, more immediate answers could lie in alternate sources of self-study about the subjects in your syllabus, guidelines on future course of actions and in general to expand your knowledge base. …which incidentally will also solve the age-old problem of 'our intelligent students unable to clear competitive exams and interviews'

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Reason 3: Feeling of Self Worth: We need to create a feeling of self-worth among students pursuing any stream of study. If you are keen on what you want to achieve in life, and have a clearly defined game plan for success, then you will not take to the streets to demonstrate your strength. And this is what we should provide in terms of getting achievers in various fields to speak in college forums, have discussion groups for various competitive exams and so on. If every college department has a fully functional career guidance and counseling centre then we can address this issue to a large extent. We need to give every student a vision of personal success. Reason 4: Entry to Colleges: Most acclaimed institutes of study have a 'statement of purpose' essay as a key criterion for admission. We need to bring that into our undergrad system as well. This will help students get into courses for which they are passionate about and have an aptitude for. And, more importantly, writing down a statement of purpose will enable students themselves see clearly what they hope to gain by taking up that course. But for this to work, we first need teachers who are passionate about the subjects they teach and who have dedicated their lives for the growth of the subject. Otherwise even this process can get hijacked by people with vested interests. Reason 5:Choices: The last thing I can think of is to increase the choices at every level - choice of subjects at the plus two level, choice of adequate research facilities, choice of different careers. This is a long term solution and will take at least ten years to implement, but let's atleast know what we want. We want passionate teachers, good research facilities, and entrepreneurs who will generate more jobs. Let's work towards these.

a right job , so it becomes absolutely necessary to have the right things in place for a company to project it self in the market so that every candidate becomes a prospect for the company. Gone are the days where the companies were choosers , in today's competitive world the Candidate are assumed to be choosers. So have the interview styles changed !!! by asking the right questions and selecting the right candidate instantly. I can still imagine that wouldnt be the case in our governmental organizations. It still should take one quarter's time to select a candidate after the job advt. I always wondered how big wigs like Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani etc etc, would they be interviewing their fellows. Previously the candidate use to look out for a sound company to work for, and now its just the challenges and remuneration he is interested in. Previously our seniors, parents used to settle down in a company for not less than 15 to 20 years , whereas now if an employee stays for more than 3 to 4 years he is questioned by his peers, Whats wrong? :D Such is the changing scenario of job environment. I still remember some things haven't changed. I can still see people coming with the forehead colored in red, yellow, white that marks the blessings taken from the heavenly bodies, so has the ritual of have curd and sugar before leaving the house.Still a common practice in this 21st century. One thing is for sure the dreadful word "INTERVIEW" has generated a lot of employment directly, indirectly , be it in the form of Job portals, executive search firms, self development tutors etc. Nevertheless the roles of an HR agency has taken a phenomenal change from just interviewing to taking care of the candidate right from the interview till he leaves a company. The HR is in constant touch with the candidate and according to me it is a sound idea, because they have been the front face of the organization even before you were a part of. I always felt even when we have a dedicated HR to every vertical or project it should always cast itself as an independent body reporting to the top management, this makes the managers fear and the employees friendly. Well its beyond this article to say anything more on HR . So watch this space. Just to leave you on a lighter note “I had a job interview at an insurance company once and the lady said "Where do you see yourself in five years?" and i said "Celebrating the fifth year anniversary of you asking me this question” Mitch Hedberg quotes (American Comedian, 1968-2005) "World's Shortest Exit Interview(You need to know the jargons very well )” MCMC An Anonymous Frustrated Engineer

Inter-view (The inner view) - Satesh "The interviewer should just tell me the words he wants me to say and I'll repeat them after him.” (Andy Warhol, Holy Terror : Andy Warhol Close Up ) Isn't that so true. Now the interviews have indeed come a long way. Right from the days wherein there would be 1 or 2 rounds of interviews to a more linear but useful ways of selecting that right candidate. That particular candidate who will be the face of the interviewing organization is grilled in front of the interviewing panel. Just when i thought of writing this article, i was just wondering of the existence of interviews and needless to say it had been in existence from our mythological era, where the students [shsishyas] were admitted into the ashrams after their parents are interviewed, blah blah blah. Isnt that a fact, albeit i knew only from those Mythological serial's which i have seen in childhood. So interviews have become an integral part of our lives. I guess it start even before we are born. The doctor starts interviewing examining(whatever...) the lady about its pregnancy and then refers to some consultant after careful examination of the candidate in this case the patient , then so does it continue during schools, college admissions, work, marriages etc etc etc. So you see it has been with us throughout our life. In some situations you are unaware and confident and sometime its just the opposite. Whereas in my case it still scares the shit out of me whenever i bump across this word But when we talk about interviews, lets get down to the most prominent one i.e the interview for a Job. Well this is the one i am most scared about. Though these interview styles have changed. Every organization has its way of interviewing for diff organization roles. it can be Telephonic, Video, Screening, Informational, Directive, Meandering, Stress, Behavioral, Audition, Group, Tag-Team, Mealtime, Follow-up etc etc and many more which are customized to the organization but have been kept secret and why shouldnt they, it is their way of getting the best talent out of the pool.So be it. Its always very difficult to get the right person for SIMPLE THOUGHTS

Guess the 2 Personaities

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The Only Possible Solution to Improve transport system. -Mohd Suleman

I think we can still improve the means of transportation with some collective effort.

T

his is my first Article I am writing for "Simple thoughts". The Transport system plays a very crucial role for running your life in any small or big city in India. The Most worst Transport system can be seen on the roads of our metropolitan cities. The city like Delhi we can see heavy rush for the buses and trains when the day starts till the day ends, everyone is in a rush to catch their first bus or train, the crowd in the bus or train does not matter for them.

Think about encouraging private buses if the government says no to the new buses but the private sector should be following some standards. There is a heavy rush for the buses and trains when the day starts for the working men and when the day ends, everyone is in a rush to catch their first bus or train, the crowd in the bus or train doesn't matter for them.

The transport department of any city has not proved to be successful till the date. If you go into the flashback, in Delhi riots started between the transporters and state government. Several people died just because of the seriously unattended agenda of transport. And there has to be some kinds of guidelines for the public transporters as well as for the state level transport authorities. This can be possible only if every individual start taking initiatives and follow the proper guidelines to travel on the road in buses or any public transport and make others to follow and motivate. Then only state government can be able to work on the issue.

Let us do one thing…..say we have 10 buses from A to F. We did an analysis and found that most of the people start from A, B and D Let us have 3 of the buses moving from A to F, B to F, D to F (they are non-stop buses in the cities during the peak hours) Let us use the differences in the timing of corporate offices, schools and colleges to an advantage. Where in we can use the transport provided for schools to some of the offices, this would also reduce the traffic problem.

We also can not forget or ignore the incident of one of the school bus drowned in the river. It was just because of the irresponsible behavior of school department and the Bus owner. They overcrowded the buses just for the sake of money. The only responsible for the incident was school department and also state government was equally responsible.

Let us have some shift trains and shift buses because most of the people get down at some major stops. If we are traveling more than 40 mins, I think we can change the bus or train and travel. I don't say that this is a very very easy thing to do but I can say one thing that its not that all difficult to be implemented.

The guidelines should not be restricted only to the bus driver or bus owner. We are equally responsible as we have to make them follow traffic rules seriously. There has to be a limit on the number of passengers bus carrying to avoid over load or overcrowded buses. If passengers are facing issues of lacking in the number of buses in the city then Government should provide more buses to the city by taking in mind which part of the city need more attention. You will say that as number of vehicles is increasing in the city government should not ply more buses. But this is not the solution to avoid heavy traffic congestion. We can have a possible solution to this is that who is having their own vehicle should start traveling in the public transport it will ultimately solve the problem of traffic congestion. As a result of this bus drivers or public transport might be able to drive smoothly. So we need more buses on the roads. We all should encourage private buses if the government says no to the new buses and also motivate the private sector to follow some standards. These standards or guidelines for the bus drivers and also to bus owners should be set by the state government. The government should also build up a team to keep track on the drivers in the city as well as on the transport owners to make them implement those guidelines. -ST TEAM As soon as we see the above images, our mind travels to the past tense. Most of us remember our school days, college days, and job hunting days. But the transport in India is the same even today…The only excuse government gives us all the time is the population is more and more…even though the infrastructure and the transportation was increased it balanced with the increase in population. SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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"Most of us travel in the weekends from BangaloreHyderabad or Bangalore-Chennai.The private buses are being priced according to the urgency of the people,which is very unfair. Government buses are too bad in shape.We think that being together can help us in this aspect where we can dictate the standards of the transportation.We encourage and extend our full support to the best service provider”

YUVASHAKTHI (POWER OF YOUTH) YUVASHAKTHI - for a developed INDIA INDIA the SUPER POWER , a developed nation; these are the honours that have eluded our great nation(of course the greatest nation) in the times gone by. But this is going to change for sure . We are ready to take on the world. Indian youth has to play an important role in this quest. ****The U.S. may lead the world for a few years, CHINA for the next few years, but for a long time in the future “INDIA” will lead the world and surely the WORLD will be a happier place to live in under “INDIA's” leadership---- an Englishman . **** The WORLD owes a lot to the “INDIANS” , who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made---- Albert Einstein . **** If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is “INDIA” ---- a Frenchman. **** “INDIA” conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border---- a Chinese. and they go on , for the world has found a new icon in “INDIA”. “INDIA” has started a new journey , a journey towards glory. The nation is going to lead the world and will do so for centuries to come. Tough times ahead. But we are ready for the challenge. The very fact of our being “INDIAN” is a thing to celebrate. There are so many things that we have to be proud of as “INDIANS”. Let's celebrate its greatness. Ø Algebra, trigonometry and calculus took their roots here. Ø The pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose Ø The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra. Ø Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented here. Ø The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population. Ø The Temple of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination, larger than either Rome or Mecca, with an average of 30,000 visitors every day giving donations to the temple of 2.5 crore rupees daily. Ø Grammar constitutes one of our greatest contributions to SIMPLE THOUGHTS

Western philology. Ø Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Ø Varanasi is the oldest & continuously inhabited city in the world. Ø India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history. In the modern times - “INDIA” is the world's largest & thriving Democracy. - 38% of Doctors in America are “INDIANS”. - 12% of Scientists in America are “INDIANS”. - 36% of NASA employees are “INDIANS”. - 34% of MICROSOFT employees are “INDIANS”. - 28% of IBM employees are “INDIANS”. - 17% of INTEL employees are “INDIANS”. - We are the world's second largest horticultural producer. - We are the world's largest producers of Fruits & Vegetables. - The three-tier Panchayat Raj system in the states is the largest one in the world. - We have world's largest livestock population. I feel the great advantage we have is that INDIA has the highest youth power in the world. If used properly this can be our greatest strength. Today some people are just happy and feel as if they r doing something great if they talk about the situation of INDIA n criticize all the wrong things going on. But how many of them r trying to change this very picture. I was watching THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH the other day. I could not stop tears from my eyes. What is our contribution when compared to that of those great people who fought for our freedom. We feel we r doing something great in helping this paradise recover n gain its rightful place in the world. We all should first abandon this notion n fix in our brains that it is our fundamental duty to do this. Lets start off now guys for the world is waiting for an idol to look up to , a nation ideal in all aspects. Lets make this our mission statement for a developed INDIA. As far as I am concerned I think its payback time for us for this nation has given us everything. Its time for us to pay back. And in one statement I want to tell u guys “KISMAT WALLOH KO HI MILTA HAI IS DHARTI PE PAIDA HONE KA MOUKA”. The smallest of achievements by Indians can be our inspiration. Lets take the Mumbai Dabbawallahs . They have overcome odds in making a mark for themselves. Lets move on guys. Victory is not far off but what it needs is our wholehearted commitment n the zeal to realize our dreams.

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How to rehabilitate beggars? Chandigarh officials left begging for beggars! They were ubiquitous at market places, traffic intersections and other busy spots. But suddenly Chandigarh's beggars seem to have disappeared into thin air - perhaps in a bid to avoid a rehabilitation scheme!

child labour and bring the beggars and disadvantaged children back to the mainstream,' said S.K. Setia, Chandigarh's director, public instruction (schools), who is the SSA project director. The city has a population of nearly 1.1 million residents, of which over 300,000 live in slums.

Desperate to launch a campaign to rid this 114-sq km city of beggars and bring them into the mainstream, education department officials recently started looking for them. But they were able to trace just 40-odd beggars. The rest seemed to have vanished.

Attempts in the past by city officials to make Chandigarh a beggar-free city have failed. But the campaign has temporarily made it free of beggars. Under the SSA campaign, the beggars were to be rehabilitated at specially created centres here where they would have been

Be it in the commercial centres of Sector 10, 11, 15, 17, 22, 35

and Mani Majra or at busy traffic intersections, the beggars are nowhere to be found after the campaign under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched by education officials earlier this month.

given vocational training to make them self-reliant. They were to be provided food, educational facilities, clothing and even a

'The beggars simply evaporated after word spread that city officials were trying to trace them. We know that they must have shifted their activities to the city's periphery for now but that has hampered our campaign. They have left us begging for beggars,' an education official told IANS. Two inspectors, eight supervisors and several SSA coordinators were put on the job for over 10 days this month to trace beggars for the campaign. Most beggars are believed to have shifted their operations to the neighbouring towns of Panchkula and Mohali - both of which are adjoining Chandigarh and form part of the tri-city. 'The campaign was started with the aim to stop begging and SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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Incomparable Gift ! Change is inevitable Dear Readers, Everybody says that change is inevitable, there is a difference between tomorrow and today and nobody can stop it from happening, India is doing well and nobody can stop us from becoming a super power or a developed nation. Let me ask you one question, “If India becomes a super power, would you like India to be like USA. If not, then what does this super power mean, explain us about it”.

On 21st June i.e Saturday ST team went to one of the public schools in Hyderabad .The objective was to spend and experience some time with little kids in the school. Myself and two our ST member got the opportunity to spare time with sweet little II standard kids. It was a wonderful and amazing experience with those kids, I really learnt a lot from them, I could see how they were helping each other, how they were sharing their pencils and erasers. The love among those kids was pure and true.

India was a super power long time back. We were self sufficient, in other words more than self sufficient, which was the reason for other country men to travel thousands of miles to our land for various business purposes. The situation is similar today, once again the whole of world market looks at India. This time the wealth our country possess is neither gold/diamonds nor natural resources, it's a more valuable wealth i.e. (intellectual labour). We have a lot of gratitude to the finance minister M. Chidambaram, but when we hear him saying that he wants 80% of India to be urbanized, I am sorry to say that we need to reconsider our faith in him.

We started our interaction with our introduction then we asked little kids to just introduce themselves. Then we gave them one small and interesting puzzle to solve, you cannot imagine kids solved the puzzle within no time , “Very Intelligent Kids “.Then I started collecting puzzle sheet from kids then at my side slowly one little angel stands up and says “This is for you” the moment was so incredible, she gifts a pen to me and my friend. The moment was so touching I could feel the tears in my eyes. She didn't even think how she is going to write after gifting those pens. She was so little I don't know what made her to gift them, may be she liked our presence. But I could clearly see love and respect in her eyes. Undoubtedly this is the best, incomparable gift I ever got from somebody, in fact I am using the same pen to put my words on the paper, and I feel really great using it. Actually in the classroom I could notice most of the kids didn't even have pencils to write they were sharing among each other, and pencils of some kids were so small that they just attached cap of some pen at the end of pencil so that they can use their small pencil as much as possible.

Last time we did a mistake, we were in slavery for over 200 years. If we do a mistake again by falling prey to the jobs on offer in various multi national companies , leaving the service of the mother land in the hands of undeserved. We will be under the indirect rule of foreign policies, because we are not producing anything. We will be indirect slaves to the various countries, which will be exporting their products to us. We don't say that we should produce everything, but we should not be overwhelmed with the technology and the IT factor. Society should be part of our family, this will retain India its glory.

Looking at this you can understand the condition of kids, how these innocent kids are facing problems in there daily life, even affording a pencil is tough for their parents, many kids are sent to school so that at least there mid day meal is assured here. These kids are small but I feel they are more mature than any elder person because they have very good sense of responsibility, when their parents are out for work they very affectionately take care of their 5-6 months old siblings. The kids are just GREAT!! .

If we start thinking about various things that the west learned from us which we have forgotten, we get solutions to most of our problems which they are not facing to a certain extent. We can give you an example, education is an occupation oriented programme for us, where the Guru decides the occupation for his student based on his interest. We were not having any certified programme, we learned the certification from them and they learned the specialization from us. Now we find that we know most of the things on paper and they know most of the things in practical. Its time to make a change, let us do some retrospection and see what our inner self asks us to do for the humanity.

Mother Teresa is right, more than money people need love, affection and care. Some day take out some time and spend some time with little kids, just show love and affection towards them, they don't expect anything more than that, I am sure you will have a wonderful experience which would be worth more than a million dollar. hmmmm…actually it is incomparable.

We are making an effort with a small volunteer team of us named “Simple Thots”. We invite all the likeminded people to join us, let us make a substantial change in the governance of the nation.

Fine, we ended the session by giving chocolates to all the kids, they were insisting us to visit again so we promised them that we would be definitely spare time with them. Then before leaving the class I also gifted a pen and chocolates to little angel. I can still feel the divine smile of the kids.

Email us your solutions to various problems at [email protected]. Reach us, by sending an email to [email protected].

SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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s o M

d e w e i tV

EFG

Men vs Women

Women - Multiple process Women's brains designed to concentrate multiple task at a time. Women can Watch a TV and Men - Single Process Men's brain designed to concentrate only one work at a time. Men can not watch a TV and talking in phone same time. He stops the TV while Talking. He can either watch TV or talk over phone or cook. LANGUAGE Women can easily learn many languages. Her brain set up. But can not find the solutions to problems Men can not easily learn languages; he can easily solve the problems.3 year old gal has three times higher vocabulary than 3 year old boy. ANALYTICAL SKILL Men's brain has lot of space for handling the analytical process. So easily he can analyze and find the solution for a process. He can design (blue print) a map of a building easily. If a complex map is viewed by women, she can not understand it. She can not understand the details of the map easily. For her it is dump of lines in a paper. CAR DRIVING. While driving a car, men's analytical spaces are used in his brain. He can drive a car fastly. If he sees an object at long distance, immediately his brain classifies the object (bus or van or car) direction and speed of the object and driving accordingly. Where as women take a long time to recognize the object direction/ speed. His single process mind stops the audio in the car (if any), then concentrating only on the driving. You can often watch, while men driving the car fastly, the women sit next to him will shout, "GO SLOW" , "CARE FULL", "AAHHH", "OHH GOD.."..Etc... LIE Many times, when men lie to women face to face, they got caught easily. Her super natural brain observes the facial expression 70%, and the body language 20% and the words comes from mouth 10%. So he is easily caught while lying. Men's brain does not have this. Women easily lie to men face to face. So guys, while lying to your girls, use phone, or letter or close all the lights or cover your/her face with blanket. Don't lie face to face. PROBLEM End of day, if men have lot of problems, his brain clearly classifies the SIMPLE THOUGHTS

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problems and put into individual rooms of brain, the problems in individual room of brain and finding the solution one by one. You can see many guys looking on the sky's for a long times. If you disturb him, he gets irritated. End of Day, if women have lot of problems, her brain cannot classify the problems. she wants someone to hear that. After telling everything to a person she goes happily to bed. She does not worry abt the problem solved or not. WANTS Men want status, success, solutions, big process... etc Women want relationship, friends, family...etc... UNHAPPY if women unhappy with their relations, she can not concentrate on work. If men unhappy with their work, he can not concentrate on the relations. MAP Men can easily locate the place in a complex map. His analytical brain does this. While watching a cricket match in a stadium with full of crowd, men can leave his seat to T shop and keeps everything in his mind and comes back to his seat with out problems. He uses his analytical skills space of brain.Women can't do this. They often lost their way to their seat. LIFE Life is very easy to Men. One good job, one alcohol bottle is enough for him. Women want everything in life. SPEECH Women use indirect languages in speech. Geetha asked Vijay, "vijay do you like to have a cup of coffee?" T h i s m e a n s , G e e t h a r e a l l y w a n t a c u p o f c o ff e e . In the morning......."Darling, do you think, will it be good to have an Omlette for breakfast" Men use direct language. "Geetha, I want to have a cup of coffee, Pls stop the car when you see a coffee shop".In the morning...."Darling, Can you please prepare an omelet for breakfast". HANDLING EMOTION Women talk a lot without thinking, if they are in emotion. Men act a lot with out thinking. That's why many of prisoners are men all over the world.

JULY 2008

President is a puppet in our constitution. It doesn't make any difference

"VANDEMATARAM" ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED

whoever is the president.

But he proved everyone wrong “We should not allow the problems to defeat us” I bow to thee, Mother,

Gandhi is the only person,

richly-watered, richly-fruited, cool with the winds of the south,

who can get us freedom.

dark with the crops of the harvests,

He followed him as a child.

The Mother!

But his vision was “Total Independence” He was confident that a determined soul can make a difference. “I am a man and all that effects mankind concerns me”

Religion is this….Religion is that. Religious heads speak good about their methods by speaking bad about other religions. He was different, he used to speak about his religion alone. "I am the thread that runs through all these pearls," and each pearl is a religion and the creator is the thread

Her nights rejoicing in the glory of the moonlight, her lands clothed beautifully with her trees in flowering bloom, sweet of laughter, sweet of speech, The Mother, giver of boons, giver of bliss. In the annals of history, these will remain the most effective 6 lines that galvanized an entire nation,some 500 million people and shook the British raj so much that they found ways and means to add communal color to these lines and imposed a ban. Today we are 100 years hence..fighting whether to sing those lines..whether our religion would accept those lines…..adding communal color to this….and happily letting the fundamentalists have their say…… I will once again be called a communal after this…I am the least worried for I believe some things are beyond religion..they transcend all boundaries…they find their place in peoples hearts…vandemataram is one such…… What is wrong if you equate nation with mother?…after all it is your mother that is the very reason for your existence..what is wrong if you call this nation BHARAT MATA? You had no problem when you sing and dance to A R Rehman's vandemataram….why is the problem now? The congress has started its dirty politics again…BJP for its part is adding to the politics….You will never let this nation grow out of these narrow barriers….. There are mullahs,imams issuing fatwas…..for what…if some muslim sings,will he cease to be a muslim?

We are having numbers from 1,2,3……..infinity

He thinks simple and says, why can't we have a number '0' for nothing It changed the dimension of world education.

If there are issues with the song that it is about hindu deities..so be it….i have no problems in reciting the gayantri mantra or a verse from Quran if it symbolises nationalism…if it can galvanize an entire nation….. I am angry.. I am frustrated…I am fed up……but there are some things that give you solace…..i will recite vandemataram in the peak of my voice…till my voice breaks down….to remember those who gave their lives for us…for us to live happily today with all our comforts .... VANDEMATARAM One word…one mantra…that is more powerful than a nuclear bomb…remember those who gave their lives for u… Celebrate the spirit of freedom struggle…live in the moment…..

FUNNY... Call Letter from company

After Clearing the Aptitude test...

Cleared the interview too...

Gotta go for training

Training days

Time to depart

Allocated to projects

work... work... work

More Work

Yeah got Promotion... Now a Project Manager!

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