The CoViD-19 Pandemic and Government Handling

The world is aface to the CoViD-19 pandemic since December 2019, but the situation deteriorated around March 2020. Particularly in India, the situation started heating by the end of March and a lockdown was imposed. That is history now, and after around four months, right from people at large to the enforcing authorities, all seem to have tired up, fed-up and used to the infection and its spread. No one is serious any more.

Meanwhile, a new trend has emerged in India. More people are found infected but

Stranger is that no tested person is being given any test report. I personally know a lady who was tested and informed on phone that all was OK, and the report was negative. Two days later and ambulance arrived her home to take her to hospital as

Seems like there is more than meets the eye.

But this approach by the authorities will lead to a more grave situation. As the word would spread, people will start thinking that Corona is nothing but hoax. Already negligent people will become more callous leading to a situation no government would be able to handle.

 As per data till GMT 2400 hrs on 29.04.2020, in the US one person was infected in every 72 person and one dead in every 2153. For Brazil it was in 83 and 2358 persons respectively. For India, these numbers were 872 and 39455 respectively. If my doubts are correct,this number includes the hoax patients also.

If the situation really goes the US way, we will be having a whopping 16639140 infected and 585686 dead persons. India is not prepared to handle this mammoth number.

People say, Delhi and Mumbai saw decline in numbers after they they permitted asymptomatic positives to stay home. I think, it no more remained lucrative to declare them infected!

Authorities, at least spare the moments of crisis, please.

Are We Overdoing Our Rape News?

Lately, probably post-Nirbhaya, India has turned into a Rape Nation! Or so it appears. All the news channels keep a slot in their rapid fire news bouncers for rape news. It feels like every one is put to rape every one. One wonders if even these channels should be also rated as 'Adult Only' or A/U Certificate.
No doubt such incidents are happening, but were they not happening earlier?
No doubt they are heinous, grievous and inhuman, but are the news doing any good to society? One wonders, not. The gut feeling is that they are probably making the rapists hero. With the wide news coverage, it has become a weapon of revenge.
No one is suggesting the way out. No channel is trying to expose the culprits, for all of their investigative journalism.
There must be a ban on such type of ill-reportings. Else, even international media also show our village level rape news in their scrolls.

Uniform Civil Code: The Debate Goes On

For a long long time, the Uniform Civil Code in India has been a critical issue. While the so-called Hinduist political and semi/quasi-political forces keep on raising this issue, the so-called secular political forces as well as the Islamic clerics stand against it. What is amusing is that no one is quite sure what really comprises the Uniform Civil Code!
It may not be a overstatement that most of the individuals batting for UFC really think that it is in fact a Hindu Civil Code. Interestingly, those opposing it also oppose on the same grounds!
Today, on a News Channel (Z News) at 10 pm show Bharat Bhagya Vidhata a Muslim cleric did raise the issue by saying, kya sare dharmon ke log ab fere lenge? (So now on will the followers of all religions encircle the fire?), an indication to the Hindu marriage ritual.
What actually is the Hindu Personal Law? I don't think it prescribes how a marriage should be performed! What I really know is that Hindus follow n number of rituals, vastly varying over the regions, cultures and communities. Take a simple example. In Bihar, UP and Bengal sindoor, the vermilion, on the forehead (rather maang) is the symbol of marriage. In Maharashtra and Punjab it is the mangal sootra. Down South, it is the veni.
What I assume is, a Uniform Civil Code is certainly not a Hindu Civil Code. If one side says it wishes to start a discussion on the issue before actually executing it, where is the harm?
It seems, it is high time we start discussing the issue with open mind and open heart. It will do good to communities. It will certainly do good to the Nation.

The Great Indian Political Theatre

The Lok Sabha of Indian Parliament had its last session today. Though the Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj managed to have a lot of good words to sum up the session, it echoed like "all brides are beautiful; all dead are great".

With so many bills (including vital 'six' of Rahul Gandhi!) remaining undecided, nearly all types of anti-democratic histrionics including the infamous 'pepper-spray' by the Parliamentarians, this House will go down in the history as one of the most useless.

The Lok Sabha was witness of the all mean methods adopted by the Congress for political mileage including formation of Telangana over Andhra bloodshed. Congress need to reply why Rahul-Bills were brought in the last session! It is not a question of why Congress did not consider it in the last nine years. One can awake any time. The issue is, did government want to pass these Bills in haste and therefore they were brought in the last session?

This Lok Sabha was also witness to BJP's what-to-do-what-not-to-do dilemma. Undecided on nearly all issues, it finally supported Congress on all issues!

It also saw the most silent Prime Minister ever.

The SRCC Cut-off Hungama

The Lady Sri Ram College of Commerce of the prestigious Delhi University has set the cut-off level for admissions in commerce stream at 100%. Strange? Shocking? Awful? All at the same time, plus Hungama, Indian style.

The reputed college has said that any one having secured less than than 100% is not entitled for admissions in Commerce in that college. The media (which has nothing else to do) and politicians, led by none other than Mr. Kapil Sibbal, the HRD Minister, himself have duly expressed their shocks. Unfortunately, Sibbal did not foresee a few years earlier that this scene had been painted on the wall the day he started harking"don't fail any student".

SRCC, or any other college for that matter, fills its seat on merit. If, say, its 100 seats fill up at 100% scorers, why should it consider the 99.99% holder? Just to hold a lolly pop to the not-so-poor students! SRCC would be to blame only if it keeps its seats vaccant and still not allowing a lower ranker. Is it really the case? Probably not, and that is why SRCC is right.

As already mentioned sometime earlier in this blog itself, Sibbal is only making shadow boxers out of the students in his new educational policy. Semester exams, objective questions and no-failure are making our bright children only the pale shadows of what they really could be. To top it all, a 92 percenter is a poor student! At 74% my friend, Sanjay Kumar Sinha, was the District topper of Dhanbad district in 1979 Matriculation exam.

The error is not with the SRCC but with Suibbal.

Muharram: The Faith and the Following

It is Muharram today. The day of remembrance for the Muslims of the world. On this day Muhammad Paigambar and his whole family was killed by his enemies. They died martyrs' death. And, in death as well, hey did not deviate from their beliefs.

This may be a great sacrifice for Muhammed Sahib and his family. The Paigambar was trying to set up a civil society in what might have been a chaotic community. One would like to believe that what He called caphir is not the believer of another faith, but the non-believer, in His commands towards a civil society.

However, what is astonishing is, besides Hinduism, most of the other religions demonstarte their heroes as martyrs! The Hindu Gods and deities have always won wars against the evil. The gods won against the demons in Dev-Asur Sangram, even if they needed help from the Gods (Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh). Ram killed Ravan, and Krishna helped decimation of Kauravas. Narsinh Avatar also killed the Hiranyakahyap, and the Varah avatar salvaged the earth from the deep sea.

It has always been the proverbial victory of good over bad. Not so in the Islam or even in the Christianity. While we see the Paigambar sahib facing all sorts of trouble and pain and fnally being killed, Jesus also is hanged. He resurrects not to defeat the evils but to tell the world He was the Son of God.

Is it not strange that these faiths do not highlight the victory of good over bad but only pain in the oath of good, and God? It is rather shocking. Some mythological error at some time in History?

Hope anyone reading this post has an answer.

Bihar Election Results: The Directives and the Fallouts

All the hungama of electioneering in Bihar has now come to rest. The next in line is the hungama of victory and comments and counter comments on the results.

Meanwhile, many exit polls have given their estimates what many observers, from common man to political pundits, have been saying. The results are for the ruling alliance. Exit polls show that the margin between the victorious and the vanquished is too great. The results are likely to be one-sided.

If this is so, it is going to hit the Laloo-Paswan duo very hard. It is nearly the last chance for them. For, in the next four years they are not gong to face any elections and therefore shall have no job at all till then. They need crucial oxygen to survive which they are likely to loose.

The results will also set the records right. The development will be the agenda of India in the coming years, and elections. A state, construed and painted all over as the most caste ridden in India will have walked away, loud and clear, from caste politics. It will also deny the success of Dr. Goebbels's theory. Despite Laloo and Paswan harking themselves hoarse from top of heir roof, that Nitish raj was bad, was inefficient and corrupt, people believed their own eyes. Caste and religion shall no longer sway them.

There is a message for the powers that be in Bihar also. Nitish seemed to have no confidence on his development agenda and apparently had enough faith on caste ridden Bihar society. That is why he hesitated t meet Narendra Modi in Bihar. He tried to build an image of a secularist by not having met Modi. Narendra Modi, on the other hand, is the trusted and recognised icon of development in modern India.

Nitish should now concentrate more on work without considering what is the image of whom. Within a few days he himself will prove that work speaks not the symbols.