Radia tapes

With the continuing exposé of the Niira Radia tapes, a question keeps popping up in my mind: who do we, the people, believe now? First we trusted the politicians in whose hands we entrusted our future, then the industrial giants on whom we relied for growth and, finally, the media which we believed would tell us the good and bad happenings in and around our country. 

The fresh set of leaked Radia tapes is a reconfirmation of the conspiratorial role played by the captains of industry through their agents and lobbyists to influence the government. But for the leakage of the tapes, the cosy media-corporate relationship would have remained under wraps. Society would have continued to believe that the elite classes have achieved what they have by rendering service to the nation. The Supreme Court should take cognisance of the disclosures while dealing with Ratan Tata's plea to protect his privacy.

On Ragging

Ragging is an evil that continues unabated despite the Supreme Court directive to educational institutions to end it. In recent times almost every week we heard a new case of ragging from around the country. Sometimes juniors tried for suicide, sometimes they were beaten heavily, and some times they even lost their life due to this evil.

Recently a first-year management student from Coimbatore, suffered serious injuries due to ragging by his seniors. Some two weeks back a student lost his life due to ragging in medical college of Dharmshala. It is not fair to blame the college authorities for not preventing the attack on freshers. Sometimes student was staying in a private hostel, where the senior students allegedly went in the middle of the night and demanded money.

Ragging implies mild mischief played by seniors on new entrants. But when such play results in illegal assembly and causes irreparable damage to the victim, one should not make an attempt to bestow respectability on the ugly activity.

Ragging has lost its meaning completely today. When a students comes out of school and joins a new medical or engineering college he knows very little about this completely new environment. There are students who come from villages or remote areas, they need to improve their personality, communication skills and they need a help in their academics. Ragging in a way can be a tool to remove the shyness, improve the intellectual capacity of freshers and let them learn how to face the new world of professionals, it can help in increasing interaction between senior and juniors.

With the number of colleges and hostels ever increasing, and new admissions running into lakhs across the country, it is difficult to keep a continuous watch on students to prevent ragging. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that the victim is usually alone with no friends to approach after the incident, as he is still new to the college. The strength of the seniors lies in their numbers. A victim of ragging is bound to rag his juniors.

If institutions can open two or three weeks earlier exclusively for the freshers, they will get sufficient time to know and befriend one another.The hostel staff need to be vigilant at the beginning of a teaching session. It is important to raise a brigade of students dedicated to eliminating ragging. It should not only report instances of ragging but also intervene to stop them.

Be ware of these politicians!

1.Actor-turned- politician Sanjay Dutt on Tuesday said he was not surprised by the Supreme Court’s decision to disallow him from contesting the upcoming general elections.“I was not surprised by the Supreme Court’s decision. I respect the decision of the honourable court. I am a law-abiding citizen and I really appreciate that the honourable court had absolved me from Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA),” Dutt told reporters.

On July 31, 2007, he was sentenced to a jail term of six years for illegal possession of firearms acquired from terrorist acquaintances, who were responsible for the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.

2.The man accused of engineering anti-sikh riots in 1984 has just got a clean chit. As expected former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler has been let off by the CBI (Central Bureau Of Investigation) in its final report. De-sealing its final report in the case in the court, the CBI pleaded that the case against Tytler, the Congress' candidate from the Delhi North East constituency, be canceled. "The Sikh vote has never been a problem. They have never voted against me - there is no question of the 1984 riots and the allegations against me," said Tytler. Lately Congress was feeling the heat for the 1984 Anti-sikh massacre from BJP and section of the Media , and wants to do away with it , the best idea was to use the "CBI" to clear the name of Mr.Tytler , So if no one is responsible for the massacre , then how did it happened, we have "N" no reports which tells that Congress leaders were responsible for the killing, What should we do with that report ? If BJP is responsible for 2000 riots then Congress was for the 1984 , so a pot should not call the kettle black.

3.Indian media has created a new leader for the BJP and for the Hinduithava factions , with out any help from the BJP, They have managed single handily made a big issue of a small speech give in a remote place. It should be noted that nothing has happened from his "inflammatory" speech till date!! All the "News" channels are flashing that it is a drama , but one thing they are forgetting is that the drama was created by them and not by any one else, if any one in India have watched the "News" channels for the past 10 days would repeat the speech from heart. it was really funny, the way the Congress spokesperson was talking to a "News" channel, it clearly showed that he was frustrated, angry, and dose not know what to do (i.e. Helplessness). The media and the UP government did not expect the turnout (one estimate 10000 people), and was literally take back by the support Varun got.

These are three incidents of this week which forced me to think about today's politics. So we should teach a lesson or two to these politicians who by raising people's sentiments and creating divide in society want to earn cheep and fast popularity for their own interests.