Are hate crimes and racial discrimination cases on rise in US?

Recent stories from US like "Temple Vandalised", "Indian grandfather attacked and paralyzed by police" and "Indian American shot dead" are quite disturbing and bring up the issue of discrimination and racial prejudices to the fore. It is extremely heart wrenching to see that in a grandfather Suresh Bhai Patel, who is visiting US and was taking a stroll in the neighborhood was stopped by police, who were responding to suspicious activity call.  This frail, innocent and unarmed person who could not speak a word of English was slammed down by police which paralyzed him. And on Shiv Ratri day Hindu Temple was vandalized and sprayed with hate messages like "Get out". These and many more such incidents show that hate crimes, racial discrimination and other kinds prejudices are on rise in US. 

In Suresh Bhai Patel's case what is more disturbing is that authorities never came forth to apologize for the incident. It is only after wide protests from across the country by Indians led to arrest of officer involved, inquiry into the incident and an apology was issued by the governor of Alabama. And I'm quite apprehensive about the impartiality of the inquiry too, as the body inquiring into the incident will be led by predominantly white race.  

Incidents like these have happened before on Blacks and continue to happen even now. During my recent four months stay in US, every other day there was news of Black person is shot at by authorities without provocation or were killed for no reason. All these brings out gravity of situation of non whites in the US. It is a fact that some blacks resort to crimes but I feel that Government has to look into the root cause of this problem and try address it in such a way that incidents like these should not continue to happen on Black or any other community. In a democratic country like US, high incidences of discrimination is certainly failure of system and it would not in fitness of things to talk sermons on the suppression of minorities in other countries. Instead, the administration from top echelons should try to address and it requires to be nipped in the bud. Legal recourse in US is promising but what the use is of winning the law-suite against the authorities if the innocent victim is unable to lead a normal life?

AAP's Delhi Victory

Since two days  in all English news channels, we have been seeing different stories  on AAP'S win and also the decimation of national parties like BJP& Congress .Even before the declaration of elections with the exit polls coming out heavily in favor of AAP, The fate of BJP was a foregone conclusion. To me however, this election was most thrilling one after Lok Sabha elections. While it is a huge setback for BJP which had deployed all its might and declaring MrsKiran Bedi as CM candidate, mudslinging of Arvind Kejriwal and indulging in murky advertisement campaign with five questions etc have certainly gone against BJP. Not only that, it is proved beyond doubt that elections could also be won without money power or individual charisma.

Yesterday, in one of the Telugu news channel a program “Wide Angle” was aired. There has been an excellent narration on how AAP managed the voters. There seemed to be a sharp polarisation of minorities mainly Muslims, which is supposed to constitute 11% of Delhi voters, even Dalits also seems to have voted for AAP in large numbers, while it seems Punjabis remained with BJP.

Symbolically, therefore I am sure; this defeat of BJP will certainly boost the morale opposition leaders and it is also a fact that the rout should mean much more than a loss for BJP and to my little understanding of the situation after reading some news papers and  to different  group discussions in news channels, I have come to the conclusion that the BJP had made few glaring mistakes, like delaying  in declaration of polls whereas the elections should have been held with the three states where it had won, and waging of personal attacks on Kejriwal by none other than Mr.Modi while bringing Mrs Kiran Bedi into the party fold at the last minute and as a last resort and all that which had back fired.

One question being raised by many is, is it a referendum on Modi? Strictly speaking it can never be considered like that in normal parlance, as it is only an election of small union territory. But here it is his own making as Mr Modi said that whatever happens in Delhi it reflects the national mood and he has invested his personal prestige while indulging in verbal onslaught on Kejriwal which I personally feel, is unbecoming of a PM, whatever it is worth even now I would say that he is not unpopular.

Now it is for the BJP to make thorough introspection with regards to its political strategy, ticket distribution, including its organizational health, while for other parties this has resulted in relief and hope in equal measure and for the 120 year grand old party, it is only getting endangered though it may take a comfort in the decimation of BJP in Delhi assembly. But it has hung its head in shame  as repeated demonstration that parties other than congress can defeat BJP will be a bad news  for this grand old party. The fact of the matter is even in the last Loksabha elections when the Modi wave swept the congress away regional leaders like Mamta Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, Jayalalitha stood the ground.

As such, now it is high time that all the so called national parties to do a thorough SWOT analysis and for the congress alone I would say, it long overdue and overhaul  it requires from top to bottom if it wants any existence, otherwise its decimation is destined. 

State Funding of Elections

If the media uproar, on the Delhi assembly elections is any indication the master strategies of BJP, Mr.Amit Shah seems to be a completely puzzled man by the current happenings in Delhi and Mr.Kejriwal and his party are driving the ruling party crazy.

From today morning onwards all the TV channels have been predicting landslide victory for Kejriwal. It is not a surprise to note and find that sometime back, a charge has been made recently by its breakaway group member that AAP had accepted donations from business entities engaged in money-laundering. And Mr.Kejriwal countering it by saying that as a party in power the center could order for a thorough inquiry and all that.

Even on the day of polling today, we have seen many accusations by AAP and also BJP. And in any election and for any political party this sort of acquisition and counter acquisitions are not uncommon. Unfortunately in Delhi though it is strictly a local matter and local BJP leaders would have given appropriate counter accusations and I had never expected Mr.Modi as PM to come on the scene while Arun Jaitely, the Union Minister to come for its defense, the discussions back and forth held throughout the day on TV.

I saw Mr. Modi campaigning, but my perception was there was a change in his tone and tenor and surprisingly the battle of a small union territory has been turned into a battle for the nation since the BJP deputed about 150 M.P’s. All M.L.A’s & M.L.C’s including all the Ministers, are put on the job while hordes men from state like M.P. & Rajasthan have been imported to canvas door to door.

In the process however, the Congress party is the worst sufferer as its vote share seems to be transferred to AAP. And this sort of failure as part of Congress is now understandable with the existing leadership available and it has not learnt any lessons nor did it make any introspection.

The fact of the matter is all political parties normally get small sums of money less than Rs.20000 which could legitimately be collected in the form of cash as donations from anybody in order to circumvent the radar which the large sums are shown as small from multiple sources.

Since this is certainly black money and to avoid this sort of mud slinging, as a way out the election commission of India proposed to fund the elections by the state which would make our polls cleaner while making the representatives less susceptible for getting pressure from lenders for favors as quid-pro-quo.

Who deserves Bharat Ratna PV or NTR?

The other day on a Telugu channel, I saw the CM of AP Mr. Naidu advocating Bharat Ratna for Late NTR. This discussion ignited me to write my thoughts.  I am writing this blog after a fortnight of our arrival in India. NTR started his career as an actor  and built up an excellent image for himslef portraying as KRISHNA, ‘RAMA & DURYODHANA etc. And this mythological charisma only fetched him to enter into politics at the fag end of his film career. He was novice in politic till then. And what was his contribution to the state or nation during his acting years. What did he do for the poor or downtrodden. But whereas PV has always been associated himself with public causes, participated in movements for liberation state and slowly  climbed the ranks of political cadre, he became CM, central minister and ultimately became first non-Hindi speaking PM from south. And benefits of landmark economic reforms brought in by him are still  being reaped by nation. It is a fact that subsequent PMs Mr. Vajpayee, & Mr. Manmohan Singh followed his policies of reforms. He had taken a firm grip on arguably one of the most ungovernable countries in the world as such and with a deft hand he had converted his Lok Sabha minority into a working majority to get on with the business of governance. His major successes were India’s economic reforms and the confidence inspired in the western democracies that apprehensions about the Govt’s stability were ill founded.

The hallmark of his track record was his ability to forge a consensus on any crisis facing the Indian polity. PV the scholar statesman had put his indelible impression on the policies of nation

Natwar Singh in his book “One Life Is Not Enough” referred to PV as “unlike Nehru his knowledge of Sanskrit was profound, Nehru had temper, PV a temperament. His roots were deep in spiritual and religious soil of India. He did not need to discover India”. While APJ Abdul Kalam, former President, described him  as ”Patriotic statesman who believed that nation is bigger than, the political system” His term was a colourful one in INDIAN history.

Here, I feel it is prudent to make a mention of recently awarded “Bharat Ratnas’’ to  AB Vajpayee & Late Madan Mohan Malavia, which was certainly a welcome move by NDA Govt, It was announced a day before their birth anniversaries. Incidentally both were born on Dec 25th, the year may be different. The honor for Gwalior born Vajpayee who was country’s PM first in 1996 and then aga from 1998-2004 and the awards given after years of demands from people across party affiliations and public at large. The 90 year old veteran restarted Bhartiya Jansangh as Bhartiy Janta party in 1980 and was first head of Govt from outside Congress party to serve a full  5 year term and he was a member of Lok Sabha for 10 terms and was an orator par excellence, while Malavia ji was a president Indian National Congress party for 2 terms and was among the first leaders of hindu mahasabha , a right wing organization. He besides being a freedom fighter and a politician, was also a  great educationist, who founded Banaras Hindu University in 1916.  I do not really know where NTR stands vis-a –vis Narasimha Rao, A B Vajpayee, Pt Madan Mohan Malavia. I dismayed at the delay in honoring such a profound personality. And I strongly feel that there are many more personalities deserving this highest honor more than NTR.  

My views on Modi's "Make In India" initiative

Three-four days ago when I tuned to TV10 News Channel the program being aired was "Good Morning Nageshwar" and while discussing some subject on political matter he made a passing comment on PM's recent "Make In India" campaign and further he also made a mention of Mr. RaghuRam Rajan's statement on "Make For India". Anyhow the PM's campaign has snowballed into a big controversial issue which provoked me to go a little bit deeper into the subject to understand it from proper perspective and hence this write up for the better appreciation of my FB friends and it is for them to judge. Mr Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister, when contradicted it recently again it became an issue for arguments and counter arguments.

The fact of the matter is that PM after the launch of program addressed CEOs of both national and International companies as the campaign focused was on MANUFACTURING SECTOR. The question here is will CEOs be able to convince their managements/Boards to invest in  India? In this connection Mr Jagannatha Raju, Professor of Marketing at Wharton says "This is a great idea;.as goods are produced in India, it creates jobs in manufacturing, which in turn creates infrastructure of ancillary industries, resulting in creation of more jobs and thus the economy gets a boost".

But as I know the policy changes to improve the business climate has not yet been initiated, however the PM has assured them that he would replace RED TAPE with RED CARPET. It may please be noted that India is currently ranked 134th in the WORLD BANK's Ease Of Doing Business List.

Mr Modi has taken a position that India must be transparent and efficient, says Mr Bellace, Professor of Legal studies and Business Ethics of Wharton. As could be seen, now what Mr.Modi needs to do is to eliminate out dated legislations while replacing them with up to date laws where ever appropriate and streamline compliance and enforcement procedures. It is also a fact that after a month of announcement of new policy the Govt Of India has amended some of Labor Laws pertaining to system of Inspection of Companies.

I am told that an on line portal called "SHRAM SUVIDHA" has been unveiled  for Employers to submit compliance report for 16 Labor Laws. Mr Modi also said during the launch of the campaign these facilities are what I call "Minimum Govt and Maximum Governence". Further there are certain other measures like portability of Provident Funds designed to benefit employees etc. But I am concerned, as HR person with 35 years of experience, the Industrial Disputes Act, which doesn't allow a company to close down on making losses still remains intact.

If I am right, Mr Modi must be trying to change the mindset that of Labor, of Bureaucrats and Employers while it is also a fact that no one is quarreling with the fact of how to boost the manufacturing. But as per Prof. Pankaj Chandra of IIM Bangalore the Govt must take proactive approach if it wants to get results.The fact remains that in the past the bureaucrats did not do their part of job rather they didn't have strategic framework as per prof. Pankaj 

But I feel before saying anything negative we may have to look at some positive features, like the recent visit by Global Software giant Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, and he was the third tech giant CEO to meet Modi after the CEOs of Amazon and Facebook. Mr Satya says he is looking forward to partner with Digital India and "Make in India" program of Modi Govt.

In addition, in the recent budget announced by Modi, the modernization of Armed forces got huge allocation. That the funding came in the first six months of new BJP led Govt was indicative of its determination to over come almost a decade of sloth caused by A.K Anthony's bid to keep his image clean while he was defense minister. Much of this for instance, I had read, the submarines and drones will be made within the country and will morally take forward PM's "Make in India" campaign.

In view of all this I feel we allow him more time for realization of such goals or for that matter let us not jump to conclusions.

 

Yogananda's book fantasy or instructional?

In my previous blog I mentioned that this book was given to me by my grandson to read and I started reading it but it took almost 10 days to complete, with 500 pages and spending time with my brother and his family who were here for few days. But today I was able to finish it, and immediately I started writing my views on it.

Paramahamsa Yogananda. whose autobiography it is, his original name was Mukundalal Ghosh, father, Bhagabati Charan Ghosh, hail from  Bengal  and he was second child to his parents out of eight children; four boys and four girls, while his father was an employee of Bengal-Nagpur Railways. Mukunda showed keen interest from his childhood on spiritual activities rather than regular studies in which he was only mediocre. Of course it may be because his parents were also into this line and were chelas of a saint LAHIRI MAHASAYA, who was Guru to Yogananda's Guru, Sri YUKTESHWARANANDA of the GIRI order.

This book is about yogis written by another YOGI of his life story may be perhaps for westerners, describing in detail his own many years of spiritual training under YUKTESHWARANANDA  of Serampore-Bengal.There are colorful chapters on Yogi's visits to Mahatma Gandhi, Jagadish Chandrabose, Tagore etc. Having established a high school and yoga institute at Ranchi he goes to US in 1920 to attend International Congress of Religious Liberals as a delegate  and having stayed in California founded a yoga institute for the benefit of westerners and train them in KRIYA YOGA.

This book is a fascinating read and the author has a good command of the English language. But if you ask my honest opinion it is like fantasy because in this book we come across yogis and sadhus performing miracles like one yogi appearing simultaneously at two places at the same time, a woman who never eats while absorbing cosmic energies; a resurrected man resurfaces from astral plains and tells this yogi about the many plains of existence, etc.

After reading this book some people may feel hesitant to take it on its face value. However it is a wonderful guide to the Indian philosophy as it guides the people along the path giving ample time for introspection, an essential pre-requisite for correct spiritual understanding.
And finally I believe that this book is so engrossing that once you start reading you won't stop until it's done.

Our visit to Liberty Science Center - 30 the Dec 2014

My youngest brother Madhav and his family came to NJ for few days during their year end holidays. We took his kids and my grandson to Liberty Science Center. 

It  is a beautiful, well maintained, very spacious building with four floors. It has lot of interactive exhibits. It was established in 1993. It has largest IMAX Dome theater, numerous educational resources,computer driven engineering art work which are of interest to children aged 4 to 10 years.

After seeing various panels of energy oil exploration models, robots and a beautiful mini zoo with lot of fascinating creatures like macaws, hippo sculls snake, shed turtle shells etc and another very interesting feature of this exhibit was Rubik Cubes exhibit, where a programmed robot solved the Rubik cube puzzle in minutes.  There was an interactive music room where kids could play all the instruments and have fun.

After that visit I felt that such hands on science centres if established in India would be very beneficial to kids as it helps them to practically see and experience science theories in their books. But I feel establishing and maintaining such a centre is very tough with the highly corrupt bureaucracy. And a privatizing such a place would make it inaccessible to common man. Educational centres like these will be immensely benefit our future generations.