Hello! Who is going to clean this filth?

It sometimes appears to me, and most will agree, that the ongoing and much hyped “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” launched by government with the good intent to educate the masses about cleanliness is becoming a farce because of those who want to come to the lime light to meet their ulterior motives than social service. This curt statement does not in any way belittle the government’s priority programme or the work of those who are selflessly working for this cause without any reward or recognition or for that matter the school children who through their bit towards Socially Useful Productive Work religiously follow Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

While I practice and spread the word for the need of cleanliness by one and all, it hurts if some act as spoil sport.

“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” is a campaign by the Government of India to keep the streets; roads and infrastructure of the country in urban and rural areas clean as also spread the education for the need of sanitation.

I feel its time every one should shun the fellows who are misusing this very pious mission towards cleanliness and sanitation. Needless to say they be sternly questioned by the people at large if not prosecuted by the law for their double standards of posing to work for the cause of cleanliness and on the other hand being the first to deface the surrounding. It is because of this ongoing double standards and a question being posed to me the other day by a young child on why the city looks so shabby with dangling political party posters, cut-outs and flags that he sees for many days now while going and coming from the school, I was rendered speechless. While I did not lie about the situation, I also did not painting a dismal picture of the hard realty to discourage him. Unable to digest what the little child had asked, I felt like penning this piece.

A visit by any big political leaders of a political outfit and the city is horribly splashed with worthless posters, hoardings, cloth banners, cut-outs, welcome gates, political party flags and what not put up all over the place not in few hundreds, but countless in number.

Coupled with this, the most annoying are the choking of all major roads by political party supporters and their vehicles flouting every civic and traffic management rules and systems creating hell for every one, yet going scot-free.

With their party flag (clumsy tin plates) jutted out of the bonnets, every owner of such vehicle considers himself authorized to flout rules and regulations. How ridiculous! I am sure this is far away from the ideology of any party which does not encourage this.

It has been around a week since a renowned political party leader had visited the Doon Valley for taking stock of his party functionaries. A visit of this nature should have been at the party office or at a convention centre where he could have addressed his party workers if the numbers were too large. Certainly such gatherings should not have been in the heart of the city, as the public has nothing to do with this. But what a disgrace, in the name of welcoming the dignitary the entire city faced absolute chaos for two days the leader was here and even before his arrival, everything appeared topsy-turvy.

Traffic advisories in the newspapers about not leaving the house unless absolutely necessary because of traffic and blocking/re-routing of major roads within the city were deplorable.  Why should one restrict going out because of some unworthy cause? Also, if the crowd was going to get big because of a particular dignitary’s visit it should not have been hosted in the heart of the city in the first place.

Worst is the aftermath of the visit. Days after the visit, the city still looks defaced from all corners. Till today the countless numbers of posters, hoardings, cloth banners, cut-outs, welcome gates, political party flags placed to welcome the dignitary are still dangling all over the place, be it the leading roads of the city, public and residential buildings, street light poles, signage, etc, providing the most ugly look one can imagine. One such cloth welcome gate or a banner with its broken strings came flying on my wind screen while I was driving on the busy Rajpur Road. That was really very annoying and put me off. This could have led to an accident also! 

This reflects how well Uttarakhand is actually after the Prime Minister’s dream project “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” or readying itself for a “Smart City”.

The question is who is going to clean this filth? Is it not the duty of the volunteers of the political party who defaced the city to have come forward willingly to clean it?

Some of the known faces and local political leaders seen on the dangling posters on the roads and other places should have taken this task on priority, as a moral duty and as law-abiding legislators. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is not just sweeping the roads to appear in newspapers and media as guardians of cleanliness. Clean up of filth like this is also a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. It is time the lesson of true cleanliness and its real meaning be taught to the political party workers first before percolating it down to the masses.

Dehradun cannot be a good “Smart City” if this is the kind of attitude of its leaders. It is time to wake up, least the Prime Minister whose dream project and mission is the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” spots those who breach the mission’s objectives.

The great comedy show!

Kaun Banega Crorepati popularly known as “KBC” Indian television's biggest general awareness/knowledge show aired in India by Sony Television is based on the United Kingdom game show - Who wants to be a Millionaire?

Back with the ninth season that commenced late last month hosted by India’s biggest superstar, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan undoubtedly creates magic with the iconic phrases “Deviyon aur Sajjano” and “Lock kiya jaye”.

KBC over the years has become a platform where the common man’s dream finds its voice. A platform where one can make big money simply by general awareness and knowledge if selected. The selection process by the organizers is very thorough, stringent and cumbersome to draw the best brains to showcase to the world.

The show has scaled unimaginable levels of popularity among the Indian masses since its inception over fifteen years back with every season and episodes drawing high TRP (Television Rating Point) for the broadcasting channel.

Having said this, without prejudice to anybody, in lighter vein I feel this season of the KBC is turning out as a “Great Comedy Show”. It appears the KBC is eyeing to take the space of the recently off air The Kapil Sharma Comedy Show on the Sony TV Channel to entertain audience with humorous characters having extremely poor or no IQ level selected as contestants. It surprises beyond imagination seeing the low knowledge base of the participants that have appeared so far in this season. Needless to say but it speaks low of selection criteria as well. It is also difficult to digest how such low knowledge and IQ base candidates could clear the KBC's stringent and cumbersome tests.

This season has witnessed most of the contestants reaching the “Hot Seat” of the KBC to play the game with superstar Mr. Bachchan having poor general and basic knowledge with at times no clue of happenings around them.

Watching the KBC show with my family for the past two weeks since it started, we have been continuously amused to witness not one but many comic characters that have appeared in the game show for reason of their poor general knowledge, indifferent behavior, posing funnily, acting funnily and above all showing their silliness while answering questions.

I am sure many among you must have noticed this and got equally amused witnessing the programme. Seeing these characters one enjoy the moment but it definitely lower the show standards.

I could not resist writing this piece and sharing with all the September 12 episode of the KBC which was one of the unique ones of this season due to the absurd answers provided by a contestant not less than a comic character. While I enjoyed it thoroughly laughing my heads off, rolling with laughter and not feeling absence of Kapil Sharma Show it certainly has dented reputation of the programme in my eyes.

What surprised, the contestant almost illiterate (introduced to have just the basic education with absolutely no worldly exposure limited to just milking cows and working in fields as daily chores) grabbing the Hot Seat. How that contestant cleared all the stringent screening levels pre-event and selected by the KBC team to appear among the ten contestants of that day is questionable.

Stupidly giggle sitting before Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, the limits reached when that contestant asked to tell the shape of the Indian national flag i.e whether it was Rectangular, Square and other shapes as mentioned in the question. This preliminary question went off head. After, much thinking, funnily posing, the contestant appeared clueless of what the question meant though repeated in Hindi and English for the ease of understanding. To the surprise of all the answer pointed out to “Square” as the shape of the Indian national flag. Dazed with the reply and IQ the host Mr. Bachchan virtually thumped his head in utter dismay.

It is disgraceful that a citizen of this country does not even know the shape of the national flag and playing in the KBC.

Not wanting to end the game on a stupid note Mr.Bachchan coaxed the contestant to take a lifeline if the answer was not known. Stupidity did not end here, instead of heeding to the advice of the host of taking a lifeline the contestant then point on “Rectangle” to be the answer, which though correct was a mere fluke. The entire sequence of this was so hilarious that anybody watching would have broken into laughter.

On being later asked by Mr.Bachchan why the lifeline was not opted the reply was to save it from being wasted. How silly!

It appeared Mr.Bachchan too was in a dilemma on this issue. The perplexed host asked the contestant how the tough fastest finger first question to reach the Hot Seat answered that too first among all; the contestant was unable to give a proper reply. It was an obvious fluke!

The laughter show with this candidate did not end here; the next question posed was very basic and pertained to a game played by four players. The answers were Chess, Ludo, Kabbadi and Kho-Kho. Totally zapped once again with the question it was first pointed as “Kabbaddi” and later “Chess” as the answers. The exercise to give clue again began by the host. Annoyingly with unwanted courtesy smile on face Mr. Bachchan asked to opt for a lifeline in the event the answer was not known. At the last moment a life line though provided the right answer in “Ludo” the candidate was really unworthy of the place.

The question is if a contestant does not have the basic knowledge to even recognize the shape of the national flag or is unable to answer a question as easy as the game of Ludo it is an amazing thing how he/she got selected for a show of the caliber of the KBC? I hope the popularity of KBC does not diminish with such incidences in the future. 

Law by India soon to prevent abuse in NRI marriages

Laws to protect Indian women who are abandoned by their NRI (non-resident Indian) husbands or foreign partners will be finalized soon according to the Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India while speaking at the 2nd Conference on Women at Workplace organized by the industry body ASSOCHAM.

India has taken a lead role in gender budgeting in the world. Effort are also required for training and skill upgradation of women in traditional, new and emerging areas to promote women’s employment in both organised/unorganised sectors including entrepreneurial development..

About 100 women achievers (first) will be honoured by government of India in November at Hyderabad where Ivanka Trump may also be likely to join according to the Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India.

Implementation of suitable strategies and women friendly laws will ensure that women have equal opportunities to enter and enjoy decent work in a just and favourable environment, including fair and equal wages, social security measures, and occupational safety and health measures.

Gender equality is critical for the development of any country. Removing barriers that prevent women from having the same access as men to education, economic opportunities and productive inputs have led to board productivity gains, which are all the more important in a more competitive and globalised world today, the Secretary added.

India has been ranked 87 out of 144 countries on the latest World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report 2016. But in the economic sphere, much work remains to be done as India ranks 136 in this pillar out of 144 countries, said the Secretary.

The progress toward gender equality in respect of participation in economic activities seems to have stalled. In 2011, the workforce participation rate at all India level is 25.51% for women as compared to 53.26% for men. While there is no urban-rural gap for males (53%), there is considerable rural-urban gap for females, when workforce participation rate for rural women is 30% it in only 15.4% for urban women.

The government is working on women’s hostels soon for widows and women in distress in India. So, the working women hostels have also the provision for widows and women in distress. Women form an integral part of the Indian workforce. They need to be equal partners in the society for them to be equal participants in work. Women have to contend with discriminatory laws, institutions and attitudes that restrict their leadership and full participation in public life. Women are also disadvantaged by unequal access to the resources needed to become effective leaders.

The Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India has declared October 15th to be observed as Women Farmer’s Day. Women can make enormous contributions to economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at home the minister said.

Cambrian Hall’s pride General Bipin Rawat

It’s nostalgic writing about your school. I have many fond memories of Cambrian Hall where I studied over three decades back. Engaged in selfless service, this institution has contributed much to the lives of countless with alumni in all walks of life doing the school proud.

Cambrian Hall has stood the test of time and maintained its place as numero Uno education institution of the Doon Valley since its establishment in 1954. What distinguishes it from others in its class is in its low profile that it has always maintained since inception yet creating an unequaled mark in education and extra co-curricula’s for children. The school has truly lived-up to its motto “To Greater Heights”.

Amazing one will be to read, the school has never unduly hyped its profile to sieve off money from the parents on the pretext of education. Unfortunately this is a sly practice and tactic of many establishments these days that have cropped up bearing fancy names with no ethics. Cambrian Hall has always treaded the ethical path; the reason of its strength and the cause of its standing tall on no false pretext.

In its journey over the years the school has performed exceptionally well on all the fronts with many of its alumni touching heights that inspires all. One such alumnus is General Bipin Rawat, UYSM, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM the present Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army. General Rawat studied here in the early nineteen seventies many years senior to me.

A man of his stature shouldering enormous responsibilities of defense of the country coming to Cambrian Hall on its Founder’s Day September 9, 2017 reflects his love and respect for the school's founder and the institution where foundation of his early education laid. Today every Cambrianite seems excited to meet him while he comes to the school this weekend. I hope to recount with him some old memories.

In making of personalities as General Rawat, besides the teachers of those days (none of whom are present now) the founder of the school Late Col. Shashi Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana needs obeisance and reverence for such breed of educationists and human beings are getting rare now.

Every alumni and present day students of Cambrian Hall stands indebted to the visionary founder. The present school management has taken on the path shown by late Col.Shashi to give selflessly for the cause of education.

The Rana family needs salutation for their contribution to education and establishing an educational institution par excellence.

What makes me especially proud, as an ex-Cambrinate is the fact that besides the good education I received at this school in the seventies and early eighties this great institution has always been a ‘school of choice’ for my entire family. For the simple reason that education being imparted here with no pomp and shows my family’s affiliation with this school stretches from back 1970 to date. 

It is a matter of delight that Cambrian Hall has always led other schools of the town when it came to its illustrious alumni and specially those in the defense forces doing the country proud. Needless to say, Cambrianites have also reached commanding positions in other defense wings be it Navy, Air Force or allied forces besides Army over the years while some are on their way up the ladder. The list of alumni in other fields and walks of life both nationally and internationally is equally impressive.

Cambrian Hall prides itself of the ethics imbibed in every child over the years. General Rawat with many honors, awards of gallantry and distinguished services to the nation is an example.

Besides his exemplary valor, I feel connected to General Rawat on the intellectual front especially as regards his interest for writing. It is possibly in the genes of the children of the seventies and eighties (before the internet era) and because of the encouragement by the schools at that time that they developed an interest for reading and writing.

General Rawat, I learnt is an avid writer and has authored many articles on National Security and Leadership published in various journals and publications. He also has completed his research on military media strategic studies and awarded the Doctorate of Philosophy few years’ back.

Born in Pauri Garhwal district in a Rajput family that has served army since generations, General Rawat got commissioned in the Indian Army in 1978 from Indian Military Academy, Dehradun where he passed out with the Sword of Honour presented to the most meritorious cadet. “Like father, like son”, General Rawat treaded on the path of his father who too served the Indian Army and held the rank of Lieutenant General.

General Rawat’s coming and addressing Cambrian Hall will undoubtedly raise a self-pride among the present staff and teachers as also ignite a spark among the students to take on the path of serving the nation as done by him over the years. I am sure his lessons of life will be worth emulating. Cambrian Hall is proud of its alumni General Bipin Rawat and looks forward to welcoming him on September 9, 2017 at the school.