Discover yourself to find out the inner abilities unfolding the wide areas of reasoning. To know about the factors that have led to problems or obstacles. The possibility of inner discovery ensures the power of wisdom to develop, to learn to grow familiar to the worldly values. Never give up over the failures or the obstacles that will tend to destroy opportunity ahead. In different turns of life, the way to discover may be for various reasons it may be for work platform, education, professions. Personal life often searches for inner discoveries, each time for energizing the relationship never allow feeling dull.

Outlook change

Changes in the outlook cannot be a reason to compromise with the inner abilities. Skill and ability are never old but the behavior and strategy change that demands rediscoveries. Practices can optimize the abilities; improve according to the upcoming requirement. What is the gain, if the tendency to outlook changes? Be a quick learner, is the first skill that one can develop at any stage of life facing challenges that will no longer difficult to understand the situation.

Viewpoints that change with time reflect too many perspectives, with a clear mind to study each prospect and utilize it accordingly. It is an ever-going process to always upgrade the outlooks towards the outer world to pull up yourselves instead of disheartening the mind and soul.

Endeavors Opportunity

As we know skills are necessary to upgrade along with knowledge, knowing or learning intensely about any subject is not enough. But to endeavor opportunity, precisely stabilize a good position it becomes important to relevantly work for obtaining new opportunities. Opportunities are possible to be acquired by those who do not want to create or discover the new potentials within.

Each time the potentials are developed, the mind no longer fights on enquiring about the failures. Learning about the reasons for the failures, exploring different ways will always provide a successive opportunity. Carrying the habit forward will enable you to find new scopes and further reasoning to encourage yourself.

Time changes so should you

It is easy to understand that as time changes, the necessity of a person changes. Lifestyles, work field, the outer world, entirely observe something new. Comparing decades to decades can point out to the extreme changes that have been continuously taking place but slowly indeed. So, it is obvious that the person who can cope-up with the changes, also if you tend to discover yourself. Rectify and work on the flaws, remove the mindset of negativities and bloom up with new potentials and thoughts.

New techniques, mechanisms inclines to the need for forces, the necessity to capacities who have the self-potential to re-discover with the motion.

Failures are for some time till one develops the intention to throw out of mind the frustration of failing. On the other hand, improvise and discover yourself to confine to changes, know the problems that are causing the main issues within reflecting activities. Irrespective of all difficulties the revelation and exposure will diversify from the failures to signs of progress.

The post Discover Yourself To Never Lose Mind Over Failures appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Idol worship is an individual’s freedom of right!

To exploit it is the biggest crime of all and this is what is exactly happening in Jayalalithaa’s case

She recently got acquitted in all the charges of corruption and her followers are dancing like crazy, but there was a time when she was charged and a lot of her followers felt heart-broken and took extreme steps of committing suicide. To follow one’s leader and love him/her is alright, but to lose one’s senses and sacrifice their life?

That’s not acceptable!

The point of contention here is that Jayalalithaa’s party AIADMK recently disbursed a compensation of more than Rs. 7 crores to the families of 244 people who committed suicide in the last year after she was found guilty in cases of corruption by a lower court.

That’s a big number!

Did anyone find out if these suicides were genuine or there was some foul play involved?

Is there a conspiracy to claim even natural death or accidental death as a suicide in the name of the supreme leader and earn some money?

Who is actually footing the bill?

Even if the party says it is paying from their coffers, where is the party getting funds from? In India, none of the political parties disclose the actual source of their funding and without transparency no one knows if the money is sourced from valid sources or through illegal means!

The most obvious question that follows is why is such crazy behavior allowed to go on?

Why is the faith of her followers exploited to such an extent that he/she blindly believes in her and can’t treat her like an ordinary mortal capable of committing crime? With so much of illiteracy and idol-worship in our country, it is a crime to make someone believe that you are as good as God and play with their lives. This, after considering that all suicides were genuine!

Why hasn’t Jayalalithaa done more than just lip service to explain to her followers that their lives are as important as hers? Instead of living an eccentric life and feeling like supreme God with such a crazy fan-following, she should ensure to impart knowledge and send right message to her followers. She has the party and state machinery at her disposal to make a positive difference! Instead, it seems she is happy with how things turn out because this way she can ensure more votes in coming elections!

However, if these suicides are not genuine and there is a new kind of scam brewing beneath the surface, no matter how big or small, it has to be investigated. The concerned agencies should find out as to what exactly is going on because sooner or later this can become a trend across the country where politicians can siphon money in the name of claims for people who died due to any reason whatsoever!

Human life is important and no politician deserves a human sacrifice!

Be aware and value your life more than a politician’s!

The post Jayalalithaa Onto The Next Scam! Death Is The Newest Game! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Suddenly someone asked our dear nation that ‘What’s your name?’ and our nation had no answer to this as it was too confused!! Whether it’s India, Bharat, Hindustan, Hind, Bharatbhumi or Bharatvarsh?

After a PIL was filed by Niranjan Bhatwa who claims to be a social activist from Maharashtra, the Supreme Court has asked the center and the state to respond to this topic and present their opinions on it.

Well the word ‘India’ comes from the word ‘Hind’, which further comes from the word ‘Sindh’, whereas the word ‘Bharat’ is being used since ancient times. It is also said that our nation was named after a king ‘Bharat’ who ruled this region & had probably the biggest kingdom in the world ever.

The PIL also urges the government as well as non-government organizations to stop using the word ‘India’ in any kind of legal documentation.

The alternative names suggested in the PIL were Bharat, Hindustan, Hind and Bharatbhumi or Bharatvarsh.

So do you think our nation should change its name? And if yes then which alternative do you like?

The post See How ‘India’ Might Get Replaced With ‘Bharat’, Government Takes Action! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Ban on #IndiasDaughter sees nationwide protests. Leslee Udwin’s documentary on the Nirbhaya rape case called India’s Daughter was banned in India. It was uploaded by BBC on You Tube and very soon it was removed from there too.

To protest against the move by the Indian Govt. to ban this documentary, a village in Agra screened this film.

As per reports, Roop Dhanu village in Anwalkheda screened the documentary on International Women’s Day.

The documentary showed the brutal truth but we have a tendency to turn a blind eye towards reality.

While channels were busy debating on whether the film should have revealed the real name of Nirbhaya or were finding flaws with the documentary, NDTV stuck to the ethics of journalism.

For mere TRPs, it was quite disturbing to see the debates on whether this film should be banned or not. Here the film pointed the grave realities that needed much more attention.

Fast track case is pending since years, lawyers give their regressive remarks and let us not even go as far as discussing the statements of the rapists.

This is a harsh truth that the Govt. decided to ban as it would lead the public to question establishments.

NDTV went blank for an hour to protest this ban. From 9pm to 10pm it ran a blank screen with a diya and the name of the documentary – India’s Daughter written on it.

Rahul Kanwal of ‘Headlines Today’ tweeted this about the ban:

Watched #IndiasDaughter Makes zero sense for Govt to ban film. Granting permission to shoot rapist is procedural issue. Doesn’t justify ban

— Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) March 8, 2015

Finally, the Bar council of India issued notices to the lawyers defending the accused of the case.

So for all those shouting what good has this documentary done? Well it unmasked the faces of our educated lawyers who have such regressive thoughts. The notices were issued, following the documentary.

M.L. Sharma and A.K. Singh were issued notices for their flowery statements decorated with diamonds!

The post India’s Daughter – Here’s Why The Govt. Should Lift The Ban!! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

What happens when the entire law system and judiciary fails to give justice to the rape victims?

What happens when law helplessly fails? The law gets lynched. Mob outburst is the most dangerous one and that is exactly what happened in Nagaland.

As per news reports around 4,000 people stormed into the jail at Dimapur in Nagaland, pulled out the rape accused, paraded him naked and thrashed him to death.

Weren’t we expecting this? I won’t give an opinion about what happened is right or wrong but I just want to ask if we as a society weren’t expecting this?

Every day we hear a rape case. Law has been continuously failing to provide any kind of justice. People had been tolerating not only failed system but also fighting a very deeply rooted regressive mentality.

Moreover depressing comments from the top authorities about a woman’s character had been shaming India worldwide.

How much would anyone tolerate? Not justifying the act of the mob in Nagaland but seriously weren’t we expecting this?

The more the law is going to fail the more there would be anarchy in the society.

People would resort to such type of acts like this lynch justice in Nagaland. This is just one of the case that should shake our system, constitution and awaken India to the reality.

The recent documentary on Nirbhaya rape case shows how helpless our Indian law and how regressive our so-called lawyers are.

If such a fast track case is still pending then it is foolishness on our part to even expect any ray of hope for any rape victim in the country.

It is so unfortunate that we spend so much of our time and energy debating issues on what offends whom. How come a rape case doesn’t offend people in this country?

The post Lynch Justice For Nagaland Rape Case – Weren’t We Expecting This? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Today I want to announce to the world that “ Mein beti paida nahi karunga ” and I also request the society to call for #saynowomensday. I have seen many cases where girls are raped, I have seen many candle rallies, and I have seen it all but I know that this is never going to stop. Many people have expressed their condolences, many political parties have assured me but I know that society will never change.

‘देख तेरे संसार कि हालत क्या हो गयी भगवान, कितना बदल गया इंसान’

I know that there have been several attempts made by NGOs, Government etc. for asking people to save the girl child, beti bachao beti padhao etc. but it makes no sense to me and I don’t want to even talk about the facts or case studies or anything. When I expressed this to my wife, she instantly expressed her displeasure; I think she was unable to understand my logic. It is said that Samaaj (society) har waqt sahi hota hai and that’s why I just want to ask the society, you tell me why should I have a girl child?

Isiliye taki jab mein usse school bheju tab mujhe dar sataye ki kahin woh bus ka conductor ya driver, uss masoom ko apni havas ka shikar na bana le! Arre woh masoom hai usse kuch bhi nahi pata usse to baksh do

Ya isiliye taki jab who college ke bahar bus stop par khadi ho to kuch kaminey uska aankho se balatkar kare!

Ya isiliye taki jab tak who ghar na aaye, mein so na saku, yehi darr se ki kahin nirbhaya ki tarah iska bhi gang rape na ho jaye!

Ya isiliye taki jab wo apne ladke doston ke sath sabhyata purna khadi ho, phir bhi log usse kalankit nazron se dekhe!

Ya ilsiliye taki mujhe use bachpan se samjhana padhe ki kuch kism ke kapde mat pehen na, warna jo tere sath kuch galat hua, to samajh culprit ko nahi balki tere kapdo ko doshi manega,

Ya isiliye taki kuch aaware ladke bhare bazaar mein us par acid fekne ki dhamki de, aur pura bazaar napunsak ki tarah wahi khada dekhta rahe!

Ya isiliye taki jab woh Holi ke din bahar rang khelne jaye, tab kuch ginhone log rango ke bahano se usse shoshit kare

Ya isiliye taki jab who pregnant ho to mujhe usse batana pade ki “beti, beti paida mat karna”

I have seen VHP asking me to produce 4 children, and I will do that but do you guarantee me that she will be unharmed. I have seen Moral Police protesting against Valentine’s Day, or the pub culture, in this democratic country you have every right to protest, but has any moral police come up openly announcing that if any one behaves indecently with any women then you will have to face severe consequences. At one hand we worship Shakti during the Navratri but what about it during the rest 356 days! I am not the only one who is worried about this, but almost every parent I know thinks about this.

I have learned that it’s wrong to expect from anyone to do anything, because finally she will be just my daughter, and not the society’s, and I know that I won’t be able to protect her from the anti-social elements or the society as a whole. So, I urge to all my fellow Indian parents (son and daughter of the great Maa Bharati) to not give birth to any girl child.

Every year in India, we have 15 lakh female infanticide cases, and we the parents are not the only one to be responsible, somewhere it’s your mistake too.

Soon we will not have any girl child and any women.

No girl child, no women, #saynowomensday  

The post Main Beti Paida Nahin Karunga appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Even today when we think of the 2012 gang rape that infuriated the whole country we feel the void of a daughter becoming a victim to a horrendous crime.

Before even expecting any sign of remorse from the accused I would like to point out how the law is so helplessly messed up in our country.

Moreover we have a bunch of supremely qualified lawyers having really regressive mentalities.

What is the entire point of law and order in a country if the law fails to give justice? Forget justice in our country we end up spending more than 30k crore behind a terrorist like Kasab.

The Nirbhaya case outraged the entire country and the accused is still giving interviews sharing his point of views?

The law makers and the protectors of law might argue and I agree to not knowing much about law studies. But any lame person would have this much understanding that the accused should be punished.

Instead of punishment our accused sits inside jail and shares seriously depressing thoughts. One of the Delhi gang rape accused has shocked the nation again with his remarks about women and how the girl called for it.

Absolutely no sign of remorse and why not? India also backs this thought process by failing to provide immediate justice, severe punishment to the criminals and regressive mindsets.

More than the rapist what shocked me was the fact that there are lawyers defending the gang. One of the lawyers A.P. Singh was reported to say that if his daughter or sister were found indulging in pre-marital sex or allowed herself to lose face and character by doing “such” things then he would burn her alive in front of the entire family.

A lawyer is openly speaking and preaching such criminal thoughts. What kind of culture is this and where exactly are we heading in the name of protecting ‘honor’?

What justice would law provide if the lawyer who has studied the subject in detail can’t differentiate between pre-marital sex and murder?

Changing mindsets is a distant reality unless our law and lawyers understand the difference between crime and lifestyle.

How a person chooses to live is his/her prerogative. It never calls for rape.

The post Open Letter To The Indian Judiciary About Nirbhaya appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

A letter from a Mumabikar to another Mumbaikar Suresh Prabhu on what Mumbaikars expect from #RailwayBudget

It’s time for the ‘kadvi dawa’ as mentioned by PM Modi post May 16. The second annual rail budget will be presented on 26^th February, Thursday 2015 by the debutant Minister of Railway, Shri Suresh Prabhu. Mr. Prabhu is a Mumbaikar, so we presume that he is well acquainted with the importance of local trains in a Mumbaikar’s life and all the difficulties that we have to face.

No we are not listing our expectations from the Railway Budget 2015 but we are just naming few things that we wish to have, if not this year then may be 2016, or any time during your tenure. We completely understand that you have minimum resources and lot of things to do and prioritize.

• A/C train coaches in Mumbai’s local:

We are hearing about this since 2007, but the problem is that we are just listening about promises like these, but are unable to witness the change. Earlier Mumbaikars demanded special A/C trains but we later realized that we were expecting too much from Railway Budget 2015. Lots of Mumbaikars abide by the basic Indian etiquette to spit the ‘paan’ from train window, and it will be difficult for us to do so if the windows are locked because of AC. It hurts our cultural sentiments. So, for the smaller section of uncultured and uncivilized people who do not spit ‘paan’ while travelling, we request you to give them maximum 2 A/C coaches in each local. (Pun intended)

A/C train coaches in Mumbai’s local

• Dustbins:

PM Modi in his pet project of “Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan” nominated a lot of people from various sectors but we are sorry, he forgot to nominate you sir.  We hope that you understand that he is super busy, so sir, we the people who voted for him have the honours to nominate you for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Kindly provide us with a dustbin in every train in the Railway Budget 2015. We intend to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s 150^th birthday by giving him a clean India, a cleaner Mumbai, and cleanest Mumbai locals.

Dustbins

• Electronic Doors:

A leading newspaper report says that on an average, 10 railway commuters die in Mumbai every day. You must have seen the overcrowded trains; no, it’s not just because of the less frequency of trains, but because some people are very passionate about gymnastics and adventure. They try all that they can, but sometimes like just once in 5 times, they fail and eventually end up on the tracks. So we pray that you order for electronic doors in the Railway Budget 2015 like the one we have in Mumbai’s Metro.

Electronic doors

• Duranto:

We are impressed by Momata didi’s Duranto express. Sir it will be nice if we can have a non-stop train to and for Virar-Churchgate and Borivali-Churchgate. Churchgate to Virar is an 89 kms journey and Borivali to Churchgate is 44 kms, so probably it takes some 2 hours and 1.15 hours respectively by Mumbai local. Out of the 3.5 million daily commuters, a large chunk of Mumbaikars travel in long distance routes. We know it is difficult to convert all local trains into Durantos but certainly we can have few trains in Railway Budget 2015 that would run twice during peak hours.

Duranto

• Escalators:

We heard that 31 escalators are planned for Mumbai Suburban railways, and we expect the plan to be executed soon. “Platform kramank 4 pe aane wali train ab platform kramank 2 par aayegi”, we hear this daily.  Sir you know that we are very punctual (no pun intended), we reach the station after lots of trouble like queues for BEST buses, queues for sharing rickshaws, handling the paucity of rickshaws, parking problems, etc. , and ultimately after this tiring journey we reach the platform to hear such announcements. So, we urge you to do something for bringing this promise to action for at least the elderly Mumbaikars.

Escalators

• CCTV:

“Eight out of every 10 women in the city are subjected to some form of harassment in public places every day. Maximum cases of verbal and physical harassments take place in crowded areas such as trains and railway platforms,” said another newspaper report. We know it is difficult to stop this especially when the people are so busy that they turn a deaf ear to the atrocities. So sir, as we cannot stop it at least we should have some measure to trace the culprits. We request you to install 1 CCTV in every coach of the Mumbai locals in Railway Budget 2015.

CCTV

• Penalty on Motormen for delays:

We are irritated and disturbed because of the delays in trains, we don’t know why does it happen, but all that we know is that this happens daily. We have seen some strikes as well and it is annoying. Kindly do something to check this; we think imposing penalty will be a great option. Also this penalty will boost your income as you will get penalty amount from almost all motormen. At least Motormen will have lesser penalties then the reckless BEST drivers who might have to pay double fine because of the delays and the accidents caused by their reckless driving, and the later won’t be the case with motormen as they drive on the tracks.

Penalty on Motormen for delays

• Radios or TVs:

The BEST busses have TVs so why can’t the railways have it? The train journeys are so long and TVs/ Radios can add to the entertainment part. You know that we are news savvy people, even useless news become breaking news for us, so at least you can allow AIR and DD on the Radio and TV respectively. It will help the government run media houses; ‘Mann Ki Baat’ is so successful that you earned 25,000 from radio spots. Mark our words; it will generate good advertisement revenues as the trains have a remarkable reach, maybe even more than Star TV and Colors. Also, through these entertainment mediums, you can show all the public awareness campaigns, like H1N1 Prevention, Anti-Tobacco Campaign, Women Safety Campaign, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, etc. At least these mediums would be surely more entertaining than the ads and posters on Godmen and ‘Baba Pasha Bangali’ that we have to bear looking at throughout our train journey!

Radios or TVs

• No BOMBS please:

No Puns, no satire but just harsh reality. Till today when we travel by train our family members call us daily, not to tell us about the lunch menu but to ask the candid question “You reached na?” No wonder the announcers scream at the top of their voices to check for any suspicious objects, we won’t as we are busy playing candy crush, or chatting or criticizing the work you do. We have so many metal detectors, we daily pass through it carrying our luggage and it beeps but there is no one to check. The same might happen when there will be explosives in luggage. So sir, it is your duty to not allow any more 11/7 to take place, we beg!

No BOMBS please

• Frequency:

We are listing this as No.10 not because it’s not our top priority but because it’s an all-time demand. Does not matter how many more trains you arrange for us, we will still keep demanding few more. Zyada hai to behtar hai!

Despite the rail fare hike last year we did not do much hue and cry, because we believe that good facilities come at a better cost. So sir please do all that you can, and we are confident that you will do. We have all faith on you for Railway Budget 2015, your colleague and our Honourable Finance Minister Shri. Arun Jaitely for 28^th Feb, and of course our beloved PM Modiji.

Frequency

Best of Luck!

The post Railway Budget 2015: A Letter From A Mumbaikar To Another Mumbaikar Suresh Prabhu On What Mumbaikars Expect From #RailwayBudget appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

The Govt. rules never failed to baffle people. It doesn’t matter how serious the issue at hand is but what matters more is the scope of the issue to fall under the genuine category.

How is that done? Well there are series of rules and guidelines that the issue needs to suffice for it to be considered worthy of Govt. help.

Farmer suicide cases due to the vicious cycle of unfavorable weather and lack of compensation from Govt. for damaged crops had been in the news since several years.

There was a recent report of 93 farmer suicide cases in 45 days from the Marathwada region.

But how many of them would pass the eligibility test is the bigger question.

The suicide cases need to fulfill all the criteria for them to be considered eligible for compensation.

Over the last four years as per reports, half of the cases aren’t considered eligible suicide cases. Yes as funny as it sounds, sadly this is the harsh reality of our country. The rules and regulations are nothing but a big joke that nullifies the gravity of the serious issues at hand.

The criteria laid for the eligible suicide case range from possession of land, loan taken from either nationalized or co-operative banks and loan from registered money lenders is also considered.

What if the farmer hasn’t taken a bank loan? Is the severity of his situation any different than the others?

You invest in the crops but the weather plays a spoilsport. Where can you expect the damage control from?

Agriculture is the backbone of our country. We boast about our rural desi flavors but fail to recognize the issues of the people sweating it out each day to keep the desi flavor alive.

The occupation of farming deserves serious attention and it is high time that the Govt. revamps the rules. These growing number of suicide cases are only going to deprive India of the youth wanting to take farming as a profession.

The post 93 Farmer Suicides In 45 Days But How Many Would Pass The Eligibility Test? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

What is it with India and marriage?

As if parents weren’t enough, now marriage pressure seems to be coming from the religious groups as well.

Apart from the two people in question everybody around seems to be more interested in tying their knots.

Couples Found On Valentine Day Would Be Married Off

With Valentine’s Day coming soon, how can we not have the religious and political groups teaching us the ‘virtues’ and ‘traditions’? This time, the code of protest of the ‘foreign festival’ (as they call it) is slightly different.

In U.P, the Hindu Mahasabha, as per reports, will be conducting a marriage test for the couples found celebrating V-day.

They would be forced to get married or if they are couples of inter-faith then they would have to go through the ‘shuddhikaran process’.

It is a country where we celebrate love of ‘Radha-Krishna’, who are characters from Hindu mythology only. Unfortunately these protectors of the Indian ‘sanskriti’ fail to recognize love, which in our tradition, is divine.

There isn’t any western influence of celebrating love. Whatever bond the two people share, if they are fine with it, what right does anybody have to question that bond?

Marriage is supposed to be a holy sanctity or a legal bond where people take the vow of being committed. What has that got to do with celebrating Valentine’s Day?

Forcing marriage is a crime and by putting these kinds of absurd tests, in a way, is derogatory to the institution of ‘marriage’.

Is ‘marriage’ an answer to every relation?

Why does is become so necessary to name a bond?

Kissing in public becomes an issue whereas people piss openly in public. Such a thorough structured way of protests are done to protest against Valentine’s day or public display of affection but when a girl pays the prize for being a girl in this country nobody comes to her rescue.

On a regular basis when a girl goes through series of violence ranging from eve-teasing to invading of her privacy, these protectors of ‘sankriti’ become mere spectators.

Valentine’s Day is purely a celebration of love.

These kind of people from various Mahasabhas are just like Rakhi Sawant who are targeting Valentine’s Day just because they want to do something for publicity.  

The post Valentine’s Day Special: Publicity Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega!! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

The Tehelka sexual harassment case, which sent the whole media fraternity into a tizzy, by now has become dirtier. The incident took place at Tehelka’s Think Fest organised in Goa where the magazine bigwigs had spent considerable time discussing sexual harassment with guests.

When the case came into light, the thing which made the allegations crystal clear was Tejpal’s own e-mail to the editor of the media house, Shoma Choudhury, in which he had accepted the charges although in a very unapologetic manner. He termed the incidence as a ‘lapse of judgment’ and sought ‘atonement’ by ‘offering to recuse’ himself from the job for ‘next six moths’.

Tejpal’s later statement which floated in the media after his ‘unconditional apology’ was an outrage. When contacted by The Indian Express Tejpal said that he had written the mails because Shoma had insisted he issues an apology as demanded by the victim to close a ‘contentious’ issue. He added that he has a completely different version of the events which will be revealed in course of the probe.

But his words fell flat when the details of the e-mails exchanged between victim, Tejpal and Shoma leaked into the social media. In those e-mails, Tejpal had accepted that he had tried to create “sexual liason” twice with the victim despite her disapproval.

What was more bizarre was his statement that followed: “I am being framed, political forces are behind it.”

The announcement e-mails by the editor Shoma Choudhury to the Tehelka staff was even more scandalizing. Shoma reduced the gravity of the case of sexual harassment to a mere ‘untoward incident’. Her later statements made us doubt whether she was the right person from whom the victim had sought help. Briefing the media outside her office, Shoma said that she was not able to absorb the incidence and that’s why her choice of words was not sharp, and that it was an ‘internal matter’.

Well, the words which she used even after ‘absorbing’ the incidence for three days showed that she was riding on her own prejudices and was biased toward Tejpal despite being the one from whom the victim sought justice at first. She simply seemed unaware of the implications of her own actions and that of the others in her organization.

Moreover, she sounded wary when other reporters flanked her asking questions about the incident. She said that ‘she thought’ the victim was ‘satisfied’ (what an apt word!) with Tarun’s apology but now it comes out that she is not. Not only that, she also added that she formed a sexual harassment committee ‘after three days’ of the incident, that ‘what more’ the journalists ‘wanted from her’, and that ‘why you are calling it rape’.

By filing an FIR on behalf of the victim, Shoma could have sent a strong signal to all the ‘Tarun Tejpals’ of the world. She had an opportunity to create history and prove that she truly was a leader. She had the opportunity to trash the stereotype that women in position of power would do anything to protect their power; they would do exactly what men in such positions would do.

What could be more shameful than the fact that her own employee, Revathi Laul, quit the office in disgust while she remained silent? It is no rocket science to understand that the whole incident was ‘leaked’ to the social media by Tehelka’s employees which was another manifestation of disgust to let the world know of Tejpal and Shoma’s chicanery.

But Shoma chose to remain silent which silenced all her female colleagues in the industry who would otherwise have come forward with stories about how they were subjected to similar crimes by ‘Tarun Tejpals’ in their own organisations.

Meanwhile, taking a suo motto cognizance, the Goa police filed an FIR in the case and charged Tejpal with rape. A team came to Delhi and recorded statement of victim and Shoma. They also took copy of all the e-mails exchanged between all three and collected recording of Think fest. Tejpal is to be quizzedby the police but his unavailability is posing problems till now.

Earlier, the police had collected CCTV footage from the hotel as the incident had taken place in the elevator of the hotel. Though there was no CCTV in the elevator, the lobby CCTV footage showed the victim running away after stepping out of the elevator.

The victim journalist, who is daughter of Tejpal’s friend, had narrated the incident to Tejpal’s daughter who is apparently her friend. The father-daughter fight over the matter finds mention in various e-mails and texts exchanged between Tejpal and the victim.

Reportedly, the victim and her family are being intimidated by Tejpal’s kin. Her statement to the police read: “On the night of 22nd of November 2013, a member of Mr Tejpal’s immediate family came to my mother’s house in New Delhi, asking my mother to protect Mr Tejpal and demanded to know 1) who I was seeking legal help from and 2) what I “wanted” as the result of my complaint of sexual molestation by Mr Tejpal, that was made to the Tehelka management earlier this week.

This visit has placed tremendous emotional pressure on my family and I at an intensely traumatic time. I fear this may be the beginning of a period of further intimidation and harassment.

I call upon all persons connected to Mr Tejpal and his associates to refrain from approaching me or my family members.”

The whole incident has put media organisations in a position they thought they will never face. The digress, that we became witness of, taught us many things within few days. The media that cried itself hoarse at many occasions making the voice and plight of the victims reach right to the top, forgot to look within.

It also gave us a glimpse of nepotism which is rampant in the industry. The very fact that Shoma failed to redress victim’s grievances gives us a hint that redress is difficult to come by in media than in any other organisations. The hierarchy in media contains an inverted pyramid of power and contacts.

This power equation is proven by the attitude in which the whole Tehelka case is wrapped.

Although the momentum of this case increased after the social media started speaking at length about it, but instead of finding a solution to continuous harassment cases in this country it indulged in finding more salacious details of a sexual crime. As Reetika Subramanian points out in her blog posting on the feminist blog Ultra Violet:

“Amidst the hordes of tweets and other posts on social media, another disturbing aspect that came to the fore was the brazen voyeurism of the masses. The Twitterati also christened themselves as the messiahs for justice.

“Bits and pieces from the confidential e-mail sent out by the victim made its way to social media websites. Within minutes, intimate details about the grave nature of the ‘unfortunate incident’ were analysed, re-analysed, tweeted and re-tweeted.

“The words ‘penetration’ and ‘disrobing’ invited the wrath of several tweeple. Conversations on the World Wide Web were spent on finding aspects to identify the ‘victim’ without naming her. Thus, with every minute passing by and every new notification, the seriousness of the offence was duly replaced with the need for more intimate details.

“Under the guise of disseminating ‘justice’ and backing the ‘victim’, there were aspersions cast against Tejpal’s twenty-something daughter. Eventually, she succumbed to the pressure and according to news reports, was compelled to delete her Twitter account.

“In this cacophony, I fear that this ‘unfortunate incident’ i.e. an act of ‘sexual harassment’ will be eclipsed by hypocrisy, voyeurism and the unending need to dispense justice in 140 characters.”

Nonetheless, the signal that the case sends out is very bad. It says openly that a ‘drunken banter’ with female colleagues is okay. It says that you can harass the employee and get away with it if you are the supreme boss and if your subordinate helps you.

Above all, the case also says that you can ignore the law of the country even if the victim musters the courage to speak up.

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President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday expressed disappointment over the quality of higher education in the country and regretted that leading academic institutions lacked orientation towards research.

Addressing educationists, researchers and students at two academic institutions in Burdwan district, the president also called for spreading the spirit of innovation across all sectors, saying India’s future progress will depend increasingly on the ability to innovate.

At the 34th annual convocation of Burdwan University, Mukherjee referred to the qualitative shortcomings in higher education and said there was no room for complacency.

“India will be able to attain high economic growth and become a leader in the comity of nations only by developing a knowledge economy,” he said, drawing attention to the neglect of research in the universities.

Quoting the National Knowledge Commission’s 2006 report, Mukherjee said the situation in higher education was a “quiet crisis that runs deep”.

“There is no dearth of talent in the faculty or students of the country. What is needed is more coordinated efforts,” he said.

Earlier, speaking at the ninth convocation of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Durgapur, Mukherjee said during the past few years, a concerted effort has been made to put higher and technical education on a firm footing.

But he said the urgency to build up and expand the engineering education infrastructure could be no reason to give quality any lesser priority.

“We have only a few good quality institutions unlike our past when we had world class institutions of higher learning like Nalanda, Odantapuri, Somapura, Takshashila, Valabhi and Vikramashila.

“We do not have today a single university or institution that can compete with the best universities in the world. Reputed international surveys have ranked Indian institutions outside of the top two hundred places,” he said.

“Higher academic institutions in India lack orientation towards research, as a result of which, their standing amongst the top global institutions is not very high,” the president said.

He emphasised that the institutions should be able to challenge the frontiers of knowledge and make revolutionary contributions in different disciplines.

“They must be able to find solutions that help common man to lead a better life. They must be able to guide policymakers in issues ranging from energy security to environment degradation, sanitation, urbanisation, healthcare and education.”

“Our future progress will depend increasingly on our ability to innovate, to devise efficient processes for the industrial sector and better solutions for governance. For that, it is necessary to permeate the spirit of innovation to all sectors – business, government, education and society,” he noted.

Mukherjee said the country’s innovation strategy must focus on generating ideas that promote inclusive growth and benefit those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid.

Averring that there were many grassroots innovations that can be developed into suitable products if provided with technological support, he called on the higher academic institutions to play an important role in mentoring such innovative endeavours.

IANS

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The Indian media strongly condemned the alleged sexual assault on a woman journalist by Tehelka magazine’s editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal.

Terming the allegations against Tejpal as “shocking and shameful”, Editors’ Guild of India said in a statement: “Such incidents anywhere are condemnable in the strongest terms but the Guild is particularly saddened that they should engulf a media organisation.”

“The conduct that has been alleged would constitute grave sexual assault at the very least taking advantage of the authority and power of the perpetrator within the media organisation.

“It also brings out vulnerability of young women journalists who need to be protected and free to pursue their careers without the fear of being subjected to such assaults,” Guild president N. Ravi said.

“Self-proclaimed atonement and recusal for a period are hardly the remedies for what the allegations show to be outright criminality. The full force of the law must be brought into its investigation and prosecution,” he said.

The Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) also strongly condemned the incident.

“Against the backdrop of this recent complaint of sexual assault and as an increasing number of women join the media force, the IWPC feels that media houses and organisations should take corrective measures, including setting up pro-active internal complaints committees,” it said.

It also urged the magazine to set up an inquiry committee to investigate the complaint made by the journalist. “If found guilty, suitable action should be taken against the perpetrator.”

The Delhi Union of Journalists said: “Tarun Tajpal’s statement admitting a ‘lapse of judgement’, and his self-declared sabbatical from editorship both confirm the allegation.”

“It is clear that he stands in breach of the law. The survivor is reported to be both the daughter of a friend as well as his own daughter’s close friend. For her, this is also a case of breach of trust as it is a betrayal by someone who stands in her parents’ place,” it said.

Asserting that it was “horrified” to hear of the incident, the Press Club of India said: “This is a slur on the name of Indian journalism which has many shortcomings but making the workplace unsafe for women was not supposed to be one of them.”

“The compact between editors and their journalist colleagues to maintain a healthy, non-discriminatory, and gender-wise equal and respectful working environment is critical to the growth and practice of journalism in the country,” the PCI said in a statement.

-IANS

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The cyclonic storm Helen in Bay of Bengal is set to hit south coastal Andhra Pradesh on Friday and people are being evacuated from low-lying areas, officials said.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the severe cyclonic storm will cross the coast between Nellore and Machillipatnam, close to Ongole around Friday afternoon.

The IMD has issued cyclone warning to south Andhra Pradesh and adjoining north Tamil Nadu coasts.

A bulletin by the IMD on Thursday morning said `Helen’ over westcentral Bay of Bengal intensified into a severe cyclonic storm and lay centred about 460 km east-northeast of Chennai, 360 km east of Ongole, 260 km east-southeast of Machillipatnam and 230 km south-southeast of Vishakhapatnam.

Under its influence, rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places would occur over coastal Andhra Pradesh commencing from Thursday forenoon. Isolated extremely heavy falls (25cm or more) would occur over south coastal Andhra Pradesh on Thursday and Friday.

Squally winds speed reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph would prevail along and off south Andhra coast. The wind speed would gradually increase upto gale wind speed of 100-110 kmph, gusting to 120 kmph at the time of landfall.

The IMD has warned that storm surge of about 1 to 1.5m height would inundate the low lying areas of Nellore, Prakasham, Guntur and Krishna districts at the time of landfall.

Sea condition will be rough to very rough along and off south Andhra coast. Extensive damage to thatched roofs and huts and minor damage to power and communication lines was expected due to uprooting of trees.

Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea. The authorities have hoisted warning signals at all ports along Andhra coast.

The state government has alerted all coastal districts, especially south coastal districts. The district collectors were directed to evacuate people from low-lying areas close to the coast.

A control room to monitor the situation has been opened at the state secretariat in Hyderabad. The control room numbers are 040-23456005, 23451043.

Nellore District Collector N. Srikant held a meeting with officials to review the situation. He said 69 habitations in 11 ‘mandals’ were identified as low-lying and the people were being evacuated. Two teams of National Disaster response Force (NDRF) were positioned in the district.

NDRF personnel have also reached Prakasam district. The authorities had taken up evacuation of people from 28 villages to relief camps.

Heavy rains were lashing Rajahmundry and other parts of East Godavari district since Thursday morning. Tidal waves washed away a part of sea wall at Uppada, flooding beach road and affecting the vehicular traffic.

Helen is threatening Andhra coast even as the state is yet to recover from the massive damages caused by ‘Phailin’ and heavy rains last month.

Andhra Pradesh has nearly 1,000 km long coastline and the nine district faces cyclone threats every year, especially between September and November.

-IANS

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Tehelka’s editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal has stepped down from the magazine for a period of six months due to charges of sexual assault on a reporter in Tehelka. 

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Even after series of protests and safety measures devised by public, crimes against women are not coming to a halt. The government tightened the existing laws a bit and thought that its work was over. The police is always trying to catch the offender rather than stopping the crime from happening.

The rape cases did not stop and neither did assault cases. The recent attack on a woman in an ATM kiosk in broad daylight is an addition to the list.

Here are five things which are immediately needed for the safety of women in the country:

• Deployment of security personnel/police at every low-light, no-light, stranded areas in every cities with enhanced mobile vigilance.

• Creating an army of citizen which will help women in distress.
• Making CCTV installation mandatory at every nook and corner of the city including ATM machines, shops, flyover side roads, and parking spaces.

• Providing women with tasers, pepper sprays for their safety.

• Imparting free of cost self-defense classes to women.

These measures will not only ensure that the criminals will think twice before committing crime, it will also infuse confidence among women.

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Children across the world are aware of the causes of violence in their countries and 50 percent of children in India said poverty was the key trigger, according to a worldwide NGO.

The fourth annual “Small Voices, Big Dreams” global survey, conducted by the ChildFund group, noted 29 percent of children across the world said “bad behaviour” and 28 percent said alcohol and drugs were responsible for violence.

Children in India say that lack of education, domestic abuse and social conflict were also important causes of violence. The survey polled 6,499 children aged 10-12 in 47 countries.

Asked about their views on socio-political issues facing their country, children around the world held “sophisticated views” at a young age, the study said.

On what they would do to end violence against children if they were president of their country, 30 percent said they would crack down by imposing stronger anti-violence laws.

While 12 percent of children across the world said improving education would be their priority, 41 percent of Indian children cited stronger laws.

The children responded to six questions, including, “What makes you feel safe and happy?” In India, 44 percent said they feel safe and happy at schools while 38 percent said the family was where they mostly feel safe.

Asked what issues were the most important to them, education topped the list, with 85 percent of Indian children agreeing that everyone should have a good education.

Moreover, 56 percent said men and women should be treated equally, and 52 percent said there was a need for improvement in road transportation.

Asked about their heroes, 23 percent of children in India cited historical figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose.

Shravan, an 11-year-old from Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh, said if he gets the chance to lead India, he would bring stringent laws to punish those who commit crimes against children.
Shravan studies in Class 6. He is among seven children of his family that depends on farming.

“I would ensure that police arrest and punish those who harass girls while going to school. I would prevent the sale of alcohol as it fuels much violence. Also, I would ensure cleanliness and availability of drinking water in all villages across the country,” he said.

Shravan believed illiteracy and alcoholism are the two main causes of violence in India.

Rachna, another 11-year-old from Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh, felt studying should be a “joyful affair”.

“If I were the leader of India, I would make sure all children, especially girls, have a bicycle to go to school. I would also ban corporal punishment in school, making studying a joyful affair. It would stop child labour and thus exploitation and violence,” she said.

Rachna said the main reason of violence in India was the caste system.

“It puts some high on the social ladder, while making the lives of others miserable by branding them as low caste people. This disparity often results in violence,” she said.

Katherine Manik, ChildFund’s country director in India, said: “This year’s survey focussed on children’s attitudes about violence, peace, happiness and their heroes. The findings show that children can think beyond themselves and consider how their world can be improved.”

The ChildFund Alliance is a worldwide network of 12 international development organisations providing assistance to 16 million children and their families in 58 countries.

-IANS

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Pointing out some “disconcerting developments” in the media sector, including diverting attention from real issues to non-issues, Vice President Hamid Ansari voiced concern over the larger systemic issues like paid news and cross-media ownership as they affect the media’s objectivity and credibility.

Addressing an event organised by the Press Council of India to mark the National Press Day, the vice president said the media, besides diverting attention to non-issues, “often divides the people and at times promotes superstition”.

“In relation to economic liberalisation in the post-1991 period, the mainstream media has generally adopted a laudatory tone and tended to underplay its negative socio-economic effects, though of course there have been excellent exceptions. The need for presenting a more balanced picture is essential,” he said.

“There are also larger systemic issues that need to be considered as they directly affect the media’s objectivity and credibility. These relate to cross-media ownership, the phenomena of “paid news”, media ethics and need for effective and viable self-regulatory mechanisms, the decreasing role of editors and their editorial freedom, and the need to improve the working condition of media personnel, including their safety and security. Each of these is the subject of vigorous on-going debate. There is an imperative need to put in place the required correctives,” Ansari said.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said on the occasion of National Press Day, there was need to “rededicate ourselves to the cause of empowering the working journalist as well as creating the necessary wherewithal that supports truly independent media initiatives”.

He said “corporate ownership of the media is an inescapable reality as is surrogate political ownership as well as government ownership in the public broadcaster format”. He said the challenge is “to always try and find the elusive golden mean so that public interest does not become a permanent casualty at the altar of competing and contradictory private interests”.

He also said after the Leveson inquiry, on the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, Britain had promulgated a royal charter on media regulation overcoming opposition by powerful interests in the British media industry. 

“Unfortunately this development has not found resonance in the otherwise vacuous realm of public polemics in our country,” he said. 

– IANS

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Barely a week after a young lawyer alleged a Supreme Court judge of sexually harassing her while she was interning with him, another lawyer wrote about the same judge harassing her too.

The second intern put her allegation on facebook two days ago. “He promised, incidentally, that he would never misbehave with another lady. Maybe it’s naivete to believe him. Maybe it’s just youthful optimism. Being brave is tougher than it appears on the face of it, no? (Stella James) has oodles of courage,” she had posted on her wall.

Website Legally India, which broke the story of first intern too, has reported the incidence afresh.

“I’ve been at the receiving end of unsolicited sexual advance more than once, and so has she (first intern, Stella James). And we kept attributing all the signs of leeriness to our hypersensitivity to such situations, mistrusting our instincts,” she had added. (Read Legally India’s report here)

The name of second intern was not disclosed by the website.

Stella James, the first intern, was interviewed by the website who had put up a blog over the torment she went through. She is to testify in front of the probe panel created to look into the matter by the Supreme Court on Monday. (Read entire blog on Indian Journal of Law and Society here)

A former Delhi University lecturer has also filed a police complaint based on James’ comment. Professor SN Singh has demanded an independent police investigation into the allegations saying that the judges’ inquiry is in-house and has no legal sanctity.

As the country holds Supreme Court in great regard for being an independent body delivering justicein the democratic incidence, the gruesome charges on one of its judges (now retired) has surely put a dent in its image.

This not only reflects that the lawmakers themselves are misusing the law, it is also sending a bad signal into the society which is already full of stories of crime against women.

Even after stringent laws in place, it is disheartening to see lawmakers abusing the law and breaching public trust.

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Two months after communal riots in Muzaffarnagar killed dozens and left thousands homeless, the farm-rich region in western Uttar Pradesh remains on the edge. A senior official frankly admitted that it will take a long time for the return of normalcy.

In the last one month alone, five incidents of violence have left five people dead. Local officials now worry that even petty crimes such as “eve teasing” and chain snatching are being given a communal colour.

A month back, a former soldier was found shot dead along with a friend in a village in Saharanpur, a district adjoining Muzaffarnagar. Villagers had alleged that the two were killed by Muslims.

A month of investigation into testimonies revealed that the killings were executed by the ex-soldier’s son out of greed — he wanted to grab the Rs.10 lakh awarded as compensation for riot victims.

Last week, a couple was waylaid while returning from a doctor’s clinic in Muzaffarnagar. When she resisted, the woman was shot dead. It was billed a communal crime, and residents squatted on the road and disrupted traffic.

A minor girl in one of the relief camps was raped last week. Two sides fought a pitched battle in Shahpur village. A few youths later fired at a doctor’s car while a youngster was murdered in Valli village.

Additional Director General of Police Mukul Goel said that many cases of communal incidents have been “found to be routine crimes”.

While official vigil has been stepped up to ensure minimal crimes, officials rue that the religious divide in Muzaffarnagar city as well as the sprawling countryside now runs very deep.

While locals blame it on the long-standing antipathy between the Maliks (Jat sub-community) and Muslims, officials say the political leadership is responsible too.

A senior police official said that while most senior police officers in the region during the September riots were transferred or suspended, the IAS and PCS lobby escaped with no punishment.

Muslims along with Yadav have for long been considered the backbone of the Samajwadi Party.

But with Muslims now angry over the way they were attacked while police looked the other way, there is visible resentment against the Samajwadi Party. Its leaders are accused of interfering in official work at every stage.

Vijay Bahadur Pathak, spokesman of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state unit, says the Uttar Pradesh government’s failure is more than that of the district administration in Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli.

“What do you expect from officials when they have to take every single, small step after diktat from Lucknow?” he asked.

With more than 1,800 Muslim families staying put in the 28-odd relief camps set up by the administrations and in Islamic seminaries, officials say the fear of being targeted is still writ large on the locals.

Compounding the problem is the rehabilitation package of the Akhilesh Yadav government which has doled out Rs.90 crore.

While these families are still in the relief camps, more than 5,000 people have reportedly returned to them, lured by the compensation offered by the government.

Several panchayats came under an umbrella and met in Rasoolpur village Thursday and warned the state government of an “aar paar ki ladai” (fight to the finish).

A worried government has since sent senior officials to the area, mandating them to bring the situation under control.

But with general elections only months away, and political parties fishing in troubled waters, many feel that unless there is a political will, Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining regions will keep simmering.

-By Mohit Dubey, IANS

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