Shit happens, mostly in India

Train journeys have certain peculiarities.The slightly shaky and noisy experience is not that bad. When you wake up to a beautiful morning, you look across the window to find meadows.The picturesque display of Indian greenery certainly cheers you up.But every rose comes with thorns.Suddenly the beauty is replaced with multitudes of asses shitting in open and apparently singing in chorus,"Nile gagan ke tale, subah ke panch baje....."

As per UNICEF's findings for the year 2008, India accounted for 58% of those practicing open defecation globally. In simpler terms, almost 6 out of every 10 people in the world shitting in open are doing so on Indian soils. Imagine the rate at which mere desh ki dharti is degrading. A whopping 54% of Indian population practice open defecation i.e. almost 64 crore. It is a matter a shame and disgust that even in more than 60 years of democracy, we have not been able to provide the very basic amenities to people.

It has multidimensional ramifications as well. The economic impact of inadequate sanitation costs India 6.4% of it's GDP. One might wonder how can shit be of so much worth. But the numerous health hazards and epidemics resulting from the open defecation are damaging the health status of the country and surely is expanding the health care expenditure.Moreover, most of the open defecation places are ridiculously close to the cultivated lands.To add, with urbanization, the problem has spread to the urban areas as well. The slums breeding in the urban sprawls pose to great threat to the urban health.

An urgent action plan seeking to provide sanitation everywhere in the country is the burning need of the hour.Is it really unreasonable or unrealistic a demand?  We are not asking for 4G services for every citizen, we are not asking for Broadband connectivity to every rural household, we are not asking for an Indian GP but for the love of god, give the people of India places to shit with dignity.

FDI in sculptor making coming soon

Amidst the recent trends to allow Foreign Direct Investments( FDIs) in all sectors of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs), the union government's next move will see 100% FDI opportunities in the field of sculptor making. According to Dalit think tanks, this move is under pressure from the Mayawati led Uttar Pradesh government.

Even before a final formal announcement by the UPA II government, the UP state government has initiated talks with the sculptor making giants Madame Tussuad's based in London. If sources are to be believed, Mayawati has already placed an order for 1000 statues of herself along with some of Ambedkar and of some other dalit activists.

In the Memorandum of Chutiyaaps(MOC) signed between UP government and Madame Tussuad's, Mayawati has clearly mentioned that all her statues have to be in black as any other color could be detrimental to her massive dalit vote banks.Also, she wants the statues to portray all of her purse-collection, for which she is separately planning a museum as well.Moreover, she is not happy with the use of wax and is adamant for the use of a stronger substance.

Recently Mayawati was in the capital for a meeting with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi asking her to fast track this FDI move. She also promised to erect Rahul's statue(as if she is capable to erect something else) in Bhatta parsual. On allegations that such expenditure of public money was extravagant, she said that statue work creates a lot of employment in the state and she also plans to add this under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. With more professional statues in the tunnel, the state of UP now plans to claim the 'UN world heritage site' honor.

Bad lexicon

Words. Imagine a world without them. Silent and dull. They are the messengers of our consciousness. But a control over your lexicon is a must.

Sometimes we utter some bad lexicon. May be unconsciously. That creates a butterfly effect. It hurts someone close to you. You might not realize the same then. But then when you do realize, you cannot do anything. Words like bullets cannot be recalled.The best you can do is learn. There is no atonement for everything.

Any amount of tears cannot wash away the stains caused. And the worse part is, how the hell do I apologize to myself. It has hurt me, the most. I am not what I sounded like then. I lost myself for that very moment. Oh hell, I hate myself.

Capital Punishment? To hang or not to?

Capital punishment i.e. the authorized killing of a person by the state as a punishment for the offense committed, has been a matter up for discussion off late in the international arena. Many countries have banned capital punishment and this has created an international consensus against the use of capital punishment or death sentence.

This issue came up for the national debate when some  of the mercy petitions seeking clemency were recently rejected by our honorable President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil. Our constitution provides for a pardoning power only given to President of the country even applicable in death sentences. As of today, around 60 such petitions are tabled in the office of the President. And the unhidden politicization of such matters is the only reason for the unjustified delays caused in such execution cases.

First and foremost, should India do away with capital punishment? This question certainly cannot just be answered out of a feeling of pity and kind. There are numerous aspects to be analyzed before formulating an opinion. Firstly, the state does not provide for a right to life or rather it does not give us life, ergo it should not have the authority to take away one. Secondly, morality does not permit us to take one's life whatsoever may be the circumstances and scenarios.But then, by what right or on what moral ground did the convict commit that heinous crime.This also needs to be kept in mind. Capital punishments can save the expenditure of the over populated jails, can  create deterrence and ensures justice keeping in mind how people innovate ways to get out of imprisonments on grounds of health and other reasons. On the other hand, capital punishment is draconian, not reformative and the delays in execution result in traumatic periods for the guilty and his/her family members.


There have been instances when countries that banned capital punishment witnessed a rise in the crime rates within a couple of decades and today those very countries are trying to re-introduce capital punishment in their system.United Kingdom is one such example.Also, Singapore which was heavily criticized for the colossal number of executions it performed every year and the highly punitive law code it developed in the country.But today Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates of the world.

Having regard to the conditions in India, to the variety of social upbringing, to the disparity in the level of morality and education, to the diversity of the huge population and to the paramount need for maintaining law and order, India cannot risk the abolition of capital punishment. Today, we are no where near a stable society where we would not be needing stringent laws and punishments.May be some day when we see things in control, we should definitely act otherwise.Also, having capital punishment or other stringent punishments would only help if the conviction rate is high. In India, the poor conviction rate stands at 4%.And the long delays add to the misery.

Having agreed to continue with the capital punishment in India, we reach the next part of the dilemma. What form of capital punishment should be preferred? There are many - hanging, lethal injection, gas chamber, shooting, electrocution etc. While deciding, many would advocate an instant death. But would not it lessen the deterrence caused by a painful and slow one? Should not the criminal feel every bit of the crime before death? These are questions , difficult to answer. But we cannot let our morality come in the way to punish those who have violated morality themselves.

I vote to hang.

Police Reforms: Modernising Khakhi

I have come across many views on the degree of corruption in the Police department of India. Some claim that it's the least corrupt among other departments of the government where as some accuse of it being the most corrupt, in fact far ahead of the other ones. What I witnessed today would argue for the later.


A policeman enters and approaches the manager.The manager's face turns pale.He asks the waiter to pack some food for the policeman. After 10 minutes, another policeman. After 10 min, another. When the forth policeman arrives, the manager loses it. 'Look Sir, I am already serving free food to three postings of police personnel near this place. I am spending rupees 1000 every damn day on mother fuckers like you'. Seems like the policeman  had no esteem. He stood there like a beggar claiming that he was just working on orders.Again came a free bag of food. The policeman smiled and marched out.

Corruption is though, only one of the numerous problems of the current day policing in India.The police force of the country is heavily overburdened and has one of the worst policeman-population ratio in the world. Moreover, the arbitrary transfers of senior levels officers in Indian Police is a big hurdle before attainment of efficiency and effectiveness.Though the appointments are facilitated by an panel-system, still they do not reflect the consideration of ability over seniority.Also, there are no mechanisms for grievance redressal to look after the complaints against policeman.Also, the reluctance of registering FIRs by the policeman is a big concern.Untrained policemen equipped with age-old rusted arms cannot fight the super equipped militants.

It is high time that the recommendations of the Soli Sorabji Committee are manifested and police reforms are taken up very seriously.First and foremost, the investigation part should be bifurcated and given to investigation agencies which will help the overburdened police to maintain law and order efficiently.Secondly, the tenure of higher officials should be fixed for at least 2-3 years.That would check the political interference. Thirdly, an independent commission should be constituted for the appointment of heads of armed forces and higher level appointments in the police. Further, Police Complaint boards need to be established at state and district levels to be headed by retired judges. This would bring accountability and would check the arbitrariness of police working. Lastly, we need to train the policemen in general warfare and provide them with modern arms and ammunition.

It is high time to bring at least some of these recommendations into practice asap and to re-establish people's faith in the sentinels of India.