रविवार, 14 सितंबर 2008

A Fresh Look at Kosi in Distress - Past, Present and Future

by

Dr.V.N.Sharma

The Run of the Mill approach has been repeatedly experimented in Kosi for last 50-60 years. Governments in Bihar and Centre and their Agencies go for a repeat cycle of a plan for another dam/ barrage or major maintenance work, make a lot of money through contractors and continue with an annual programme of Aerial Surveys of Flood affected areas by VIPs, inauguration and operation of relief camps directly and through NGOs and pocketing lots of money. This also provides an opportunity of keeping the men in power in good humour and the NGOs under control. This will soon be put into the loop for Kosi. Congress Party mastered this technique of Dam /barrage building and "the Bandar baant"(बन्दर बांट) long ago which is a part of the programme since the beginning. All other parties have learnt and exceeded the Congress limits now. Therefore, it is futile to talk about the difference between this party or that.

It looks like that planners and designers have never taken the fact into account that Kosi area lies in the worst seismic zones of the world. With this in mind a dam will always be looking like a sword ever hanging over the head. The deluge and the loss of humans and properties are expected to be much more than what the world has seen in Kosi this year if dams breakdown due to Earthquake. Ever flourishing corruption in India should always be taken into account in all aspects of planning. There is no culture of routine or planned Maintenance in our working except in central PSUs, Railways or Private industries. Break downs are awaited even for our domestic gadgets. Governments are champions of this Breakdown- Maintenance culture because that is where a lot of money is. All the time silt gets deposited but no silt removal programme is ever on. Our Engg thinking is intentionally backward. For North-South flowing flood we have East- West Rail-Roads on almost the same ground level. What can be expected except anarchy and chaos during such a calamity as Kosi Floods 2008 when there is an expected almost complete break down of Rail-Road communication?

World without dams cannot be thought of in today's world because once a Technology or Engg marvels are created they do not go back as they provide both money and comforts to the elites of the society. But this cannot be a prescription for all the time and all the places. Loss of Human lives and properties cannot be allowed to be put to experimentation for ever. I must confess that I do not claim to be a Flood control expert. So it is a result of common sense approach in which not many satellite pictures of American, European or Chinese rivers have been reviewed. But I would prefer to limit their marvels as examples for every place and every occasion. Life, culture, and ecology etc. of the Kosi region is different and should be accounted for in the same way.

Kosi does not bring only flood but it also brings highly fertile soil in the area year after year. According to an informal estimate the soil there is capable of feeding 1/3 rd of the World population. Even if this claim is a bit on a higher side the fact should be weighed in the potemtial of the soil and Human power. The new approach should be based on "No Dam/ No Barrage" (or only few of them if at all required), making land and water available for farming as much as possible, and an assumption that Floods will be coming every year on time. This assumption should prompt us to resettle and rehabilitate life with their vocation and communication with minimum pain and discomfort. Annual desilting and planned routine maintenance programme is a must and should be the first consideration. Use of silt from the river for creating island like structure for safe rehabilitation of Humans should result from this. The Research on new Building Materials and Materials development like light weight Boat with sufficient strength for every house and Jacket for floating humans need to be initiated in IITs and the Cement, Steel, Electronic and Power industries etc. Networks of fly over with sufficient strength and stability for Rail-Road and wireless communications which remain intact even during the severe flood need to be created in the region.

One point, never to be forgotten, is that we are culturally different from the developed countries in our attitude towards Maintenance & Repair and Public Property. The second point is that the level of corruption is assumed to be there in equal measure because it will be the same people handling the affairs either way. This will require a parallel battle against corruption to avail maximum benefits of the Schemes and lowering the loss of life and property and ever hanging threats of getting deluged. Due to various reasons, even organised local action groups fail to take care of the monitoring part during the operationalisation and execution of the programmes and in controlling the corrupt practices. The involvement of the masses from the beginning to end at all stages should be made legally enforceable.

The above suggestions are neither exhaustive nor provide details but they are examples of some aspects. Constructive criticism will help improve and is always welcome.

शुक्रवार, 12 सितंबर 2008

Indian Economy - merely a Bill Collection Agency of Foreign Powers

By
Ashok Sharma
lama1126in@yahoo.co.in

We need to read between the gory lines in the newspapers of any day to discover what is being conspired and made ready to be served to us by the Powers That Be-? Let us try to see here carefully-as to what is actually going on with the new state of affairs in India......

During British rule most of India’s gold was rounded up by the Victorian agents and East India Company and shipped out of India in England and in other parts of Europe। Mission to fool Indians by purposely keeping all ignorant and unaware of our constitutional details has since then been carried out carefully by successive cover-ups

In the name of Globalization and Privatization, heartless systems of the laws of commerce and trade are religiously applied by the unregistered foreign agents through allocated awarded contracts where people of India are not asked. The bill collecting agents of Indian corporate sector are working in league or partnership with their foreign counterparts and the multinationals being governed by the owners of large International Banks.

Some friends here may think that it is unpatriotic not to support present ruling government and parliament. Yet others may ask if it is not unpatriotic to defend the truth and the constitution of this Once upon a time, a great Nation!

I love my India and its all people because I was told that our constitution is democratic and for the people of India. I was made to believe that our Constitution is based on the principles of Honor and Truth and protects my Rights and Freedom!.

But the facts tell another story. The 'Acts' are passed to weaken the already financially depleted population of India. There have been series of strategic moves by Business Corporate, foreign interests (intl bankers) intent upon gaining a stranglehold on the neck of poor Indians.

Our Government cuts a deal with the Corporate Lords nd International Bankers to incur a DEBT to bankers. Bankers all over the world do not lend money to a floundering nation without serious stipulations. True to their sly system, they have devised a way to get their foot in the door of India. How strange that Our constitution is operating today purely in an Economic Capacity and being used to fool People into thinking that it governs the Republic of India! Because of the oversight or greed of our Leaders to make necessary amendment in time, time and again, people have remained by and large ignorant of the dangerous game that policy makers have been playing with the fate of Indian people. Illiteracy, poverty, malnutrition and silence of print and visual media in not informing Indian population the dangers hovering around have remained one of the major reason that a naked dance of Corruption all around is prevailing to govern Indian masses.

I am purposely omitting the use of word "Hon'ble" before writing the word 'Supreme Court' because no longer now SC commands that level of Respect and Awe from majority of our population who through generations have been subjected to live a condemned life of deprivation, poverty, ill-health, discriminate opportunities of fair justice, trampling of our sovereign Rights under Constitution.

Supreme Court, including the people of this country is all aware of rampant corruption and no rule of the law in India. No one denies the fact that India is rated one of the most corrupt country in the world today. Poor population is paying through their robes and gowns, through their blood and sweat without any noticeable improvement coming into their lives in matters of education, good healthcare, shelter, security, justice and or financial security. What have successive governments done in this regard? Nothing, because corruption has made them insensitive to the needs of people while a huge population have been made to suffer and live through generations after generations, a miserable life beyond description.

Corruption prevailing in all walks of life has become today an accepted norm!! Justice is denied and delayed for majority of my suffering population who find difficult to match their steps with depleted value system of our times. In such conditions who could keep the wits intact and still honor our Parliament, Constitution and the Supreme Court! that has failed to protect the interests of our people..

Indians are subject of ongoing gross manipulations for last several decades. The Constitution of India did not protect the life, liberty and rights of our poor people who have no voice or have no means to remove the label of common ‘herd’. Constitution of India also has failed to provide equal opportunity of growth to all sections of society. Hence there is an immediate need to revise this Constitution in a comprehensive manner to bring smiles, social security, Right Education, Healthcare Services, Security, Justice, Growth and abundance to every common man, women and children in streets of India.

All amendment added to our constitution during past few decades have brought major impact on everything related to business, trade and commerce but have left a big void to positively impact the life of an average man or woman in the street.

All subsequent generations of our common people have adversely suffered because constitutional amendments were not meant to bring benefit to poor people and largely made better the lives of only a selected few who prompted such moves by buying out their pet legislators in Parliament who supported and planned such moves of amendment to benefit their masters and handlers.

Instead of absolute and unalienable original rights guaranteed for our people in our Constitution, the people now are being handed over some vague and unclear "relative" rights or privileges created to suit the interests of corporate sector or the handlers who operate most of our policy makers and leaders from behind the curtains.

Corruption, deceit and cheating has penetrated to such alarming levels in our society that the puppets of Big looters are in process of creating a second government, designed to Manage what the common herd believes ‘a democracy ‘, which in fact is an Incorporated System. Together this two-headed monster that governs in a shadow manner has disallowed the common men and women of India all rights of sovereignty. Singnur and Nandigram are merely the beginning sparks.

Government, with no authority to do so, has done this all slowly and systematically and acted like servants of the select group of people in a greedy manner who take care of their comforts, position, money and power. Our Policy Makers, custodians of Law & Order in our society, Our elected Representatives- Parliamentarians, are not serving the people of India but their paid masters.

Through our elected representatives, the people of India have literally been subjected to massive manipulations by the strategic maneuvers of foreign interests including those of Global Corporate and international bankers who only intend on gaining a stranglehold on the neck of all Indians. Government after Governments have tried to correct the financial imbalance and in the process added corruption and loot to the fate of a billion people every time people put them to the seats of power, trusting that they shall govern in responsible manner. Under the guise of correcting financial position of India they have been cutting the deals with the vested interest only to benefit themselves and the financial institutions and banks who want to dip their fingers into everyone's share.

Sovereign means "Chief or highest, supreme power, superior in position to all others; independent of and unlimited by others; possessing or entitled to; original and independent authority or jurisdiction." (Webster). Government, which was created by and for people as sovereigns -- free citizens deemed to have the highest authority in the land –is stolen from them, along with their rights. According to our Constitution, only We the People of India are sovereign. Government is not sovereign. “Government is subject to the consent of the governed." That clearly means “the people” as sovereigns. I do not remember any time when I felt myself a sovereign citizen and so is the case with millions of people of
this country।

People do not need a scientist or a constitutional expert to figure out that our Government has NOT been subject to the consent of the governed since long before current generation was born। Rather, the governed are subject to the whim and greed of the corporations and Corrupt thugs managing the affairs of this land। Their greed has gradually crossed all permissible limits of tolerance and has adversely affected the life of tens hundreds of million people in this country.

Our Constitution has no provision for anyone to use such powers that one is able to erode the basic fabric of truth, honesty, and freedom and trample the rights of other citizen year after year in such corrupt, sly and discrete manner that one is not able to dream a day of financial and social security in India.

It is perhaps the last time we can urge the Supreme Court to intervene in this matter and ask government to change the entire constitution in a limited time frame after forming several review committees comprising also out of ordinary people of this country or to order present Government that after meeting all liabilities, all the bills every family will have a provision to maintain a minimum credit balance of ten thousand at any point of time.

"We the People of India are taught NOTHING about the law in our school days. We memorize obscure facts and phrases here and there, like the Preamble, which says, 'We the People establish this Constitution for India.' But our books only make a passing reference and gloss over the Bill of Rights. Why our schools do not delve into the Constitution at depth?

After all, the corporate mindset prevailing with our leaders is established to indoctrinate and 'dumb-down' the masses, not to teach anything of value or importance. Certainly, no one mentions that India is being sold-out to vested interests, that we were beneficiaries of the debt incurred by all corrupt Governments, or that we are in debt to the international bankers. Yet, for generations, Indians could have the bulk of their earnings that one had to pay in form of enormous, levies, duties and taxes that government paid from the public money. This is the debt every Indian has paid that did accrue on them. I want refund of all that money that would I be having today had I not been a part of this Government conspiracy to rob me out from my socially respectable position and enough of savings that I have paid in clearing the Government debt from the public money. I have been paying for inflation, taxes, levies and duties to set off government loans during past more than 4 decades since I attained adulthood. I have not contributed anything to merit such a miserable end to all my money and there is no wonder that my money is robbed by the Governments without my asking. My estimated loss as on date is not less than ten million rupees. There's an endless stream of things we are never told. Why should I be the party to the debt without my knowledge and consent?

All acts are passed without my consent and with a series of subtle and overt deceptions into motion, deceptions in the form of decisions that were meant to sell me down the river. I refuse to become a party of this fraud being committed by the government. I have been technically knocked down year after year and suffered a financial loss of several millions just by being loyal to my constitution and not adopting corrupt practices.

"Our corporate form of governance is based on Roman Civil Law and Admiralty, or Maritime, Law, which is also known as the 'Divine Right of Kings' and the 'Law of the Seas' -- another fact of history not taught in our schools. Actually, Roman Civil Law was fully established in the colonies before our India attained independence, and then became managed by private international law. In other words, the government -- the government created for the People of India slowly drifted their stand and started operating solely under Private International Law, by suppressing, manipulating and through subverting moves that sealed the fate of Indian poor masses.

"This fact has impacted all Indians in concrete ways. We do not like to be ruled by the corporations. Our Government is selling out all of us governed to corporate who are not elected members. Our Government is aware of this situation because it is our Government that is making all the deals with the Corporate sector, taming the masses and robbing their assets by various forced regulation like the SEZ rules, Nandigram, Singnur, WTO Regime etc.. This means is that the members of Parliament do NOT work for us. They work for the Corporation. We can not get them to do anything on our behalf, or meet or demands, or answer our questions.

"Technically, legally, or any other way we look at the matter, the corporate government being made for us has no jurisdiction or authority in ANY part of India. Could this have happened without full knowledge and complicity of the ruling governments and highest Court of India? There are no accidents or coincidences. This is the facts and we have to confront the truth. We are presumed to know the law. They know that we do not know the law or, for that matter, real facts that brought the legislations, rules and motives of all the games played with the people. Because no concerted effort was ever made to teach or otherwise inform us, and as such, being a citizen of India and governed under our Constitution, I am entitled to full disclosure of all facts. As a slave, I am entitled to nothing other than what is decided without my consent and snapped for me to bear. Every rule passed, every decision made behind the closed doors had been taken by the Government without my consent and I suffered badly all my life on account of me not being asked, told or consented.

Argument that 'Ignorance of the law is no excuse.' And it is my responsibility and obligation to learn the law and know how it applies to me is unacceptable here. No wonder that the Governments and the groups that have been operators knew this fact and counted on the fact that most people are too indifferent, unconcerned, distracted, or lazy to learn what they need to know to survive within the system. We have been conditioned to let the government do our thinking for us. Now I understand that I have remained and made to suffer and now I turn around and intend to help save our Republic and ourselves -- before it is too late.

"As an instrument of the vested interests, Government of India owns every human being in India from birth to death. It also holds ownership of all assets, of my property, even of my children. I have sleepless nights thinking long and hard about all the bills taxes, fines, and licenses we Indians have paid for or purchased. Yes, they had us by the pockets. Ignorance of the facts led to my silence. Silence is construed as consent; consent to be beneficiaries of a debt I did not incur. As a Sovereign national I have been deceived for decades; we think we are free, but in truth we are servants!

How long will we remain silent? How long will we believe the MYTH that we are free? When will we stand together as One Free and Sovereign People?

When will we take back what has been as stolen from us? I claim all the losses now and announce that I shall not co-operate nor be a
party to the Government debts that are full of corruption deals and
the debts have not improved my life in any manner. People of India have full right to know to what extent their trust is betrayed. How
long would it take for real revolution to occur? What we need now is
a revolution in our THINKING. We need to change our thinking, and then we can change our conditions. Our children deserve their rightful legacy.

I know the understanding of truth and reality is very subjective, and what is the clearest truth to me, may not be so to someone else. We can agree to disagree, and still understand that we are ONE, and even in disagreement we can love each other, as we allow each one to awake to the Truth they can comprehend at each step of the way.
In such spirit of oneness and diversity....In the sincere intention of awakening, let us share our thoughts and unite our hearts.


Ashok
lama1126in@yahoo.co.in
galaxicindian@yahoo.com

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मेरी फ़ोटो
मैं परिवर्त्तन हूँ। जीवन के हर पहलु चाहे वह समाज व्यवस्था हो, अर्थ व्यवस्था हो, शिक्षण हो या ज्ञान विज्ञानं, राजनीति हो, खाद्य सुरक्षा हो या फिर आजीविका सम्बन्धित प्रश्न हो या पर्यावरण या जल प्रबंधन मैं गतिशील रहना चाहता हूँ. लेकिन मुझे परिवर्त्तन वही पसंद है जो क्रांतिकारी और प्रगतिशील हो, आम आदमी के भले के लिए हो और उसके पक्ष में हो, जो कमजोर वर्ग की भलाई के लिए हो जैसे बच्चे, महिलाएं, किसान, मजदूर, आदिवासी इत्यादि। मैं उनलोगों का साथ देता हूँ जो आगे देखू है। पीछे देखू और बगल देखुओं से सख्त नफरत है मुझे। क्या अब आप मेरे साथ चलना चाहेंगे? तो आइये हम आप मिलकर एक तूफ़ान की शक्ल में आगे बढ़ें और गरीबी, अज्ञान के अंधकार और हर प्रकार के अन्याय एवं भ्रष्टाचार जैसे कोढ़ पर पुरजोर हमला करते हुए उसे जड़ से उखाड़ फेंके।