Arunachal – ours or theirs?

The Chinese are engaging us in a diplomatic boxing bout like never before over our border issues and specifically their reservations & claims over Arunachal Pradesh. As I attempted to understand what exactly is bothering the two nations, I was relatively shocked to see that the dispute is actually a century old & was an original creation of the British Empire, because we were under their rule then.

However, this post is not intended to expose the British or drill down to the bottom to find out the truth about who is right or wrong. It is intended to express my absolute disgust at the hypocrisy of the Indian state when they emphatically claim that ‘Arunachal is an integral part of India’. Almost every power corridor in Delhi right up to the Prime Minister has gone on record to state this claim & counter the Chinese allegations.

But on what moral grounds?

• We club Arunachal with the rest of the region and simply categorise it as North-East, even though every state in that part of India is different from each other in all respects. Much like the way, once upon a time, North Indian’s thought that every person hailing from the South was a ‘Madrasi’ who only fed on 'Idly & Dosa' in spite of the fact that every South Indian state is linguistically & culturally different from each other.
• Can we name all the states in North-East along with their Capitals? Leave aside North-East, how many of us can name the capital of Arunachal or its Chief Minister?
• What have we done for Arunachal as a state? Has the Govt provided any separate financial assistance to develop & uplift it? Does the Govt recognise that Arunachal being a separate entity could have its own share of problems which might be different from its neighbouring states and hence needs to be addressed independently? The answer is No. Our Prime Minister only has the time to announce a Rs. 24000 Crore combined package for the entire North-East territory (only announce, not disburse).
• Why is it that every female with small eyes & typical North-Eastern features is called a ‘chinki’, and the youth cross all limits when they assume that every chinki is a hooker?
• Why alienate the students from the North East by abusing & mocking them?

• As far as development is concerned, don’t you think Arunachalis would be better off with the Chinese considering the pace at which they are rapidly uplifting their border areas & the quality of life for their people?

All this is a stark reminder to us that we ourselves are responsible for the grim situation faced by this section of the people of India. Although, we leave no stone unturned in merely showcasing to the world that these people are with us and we care for them, but the fact is they are treated as second rung citizens in their own country.

If we believe that Arunachal is a part of India, we must believe that the people of Arunachal are also a part of India. They are as much Indians as we are. They deserve the same amount of respect as we do. We have to make them believe that they are one of us.

Kapil Sibal’s IIT stunt

Our dynamic Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal is hell bent on reforming the education system of our country. It is a good move because its high time someone takes the onus of changing our shammed educational pattern. But the thought process & the think tank behind it is not entirely right. I say this on the basis of the comment by Sibal that the min marks required in class XII for taking an IIT entrance exam should be raised to 80% from the existing 60%.

Why? To curb the growing influence of coaching centres? To reduce the influx of Bihari’s into IITs because they generally fare low in their class XII boards but manage to crack the IIT-JEE? Or to ensure that only those who are excellent muggers can aim for these exams, defying all logic?

This would be a very futile move, specially because it would rob the thousands of brilliant students, who for some reason do not fare well in board exams, the opportunity to take a shot at the big leagues. And an opportunity lost for life. We commonly hear students preparing for entrance exams by dropping 1-2 yrs after school, but rarely does any student retake the Class XII boards in case of low marks. Also, the coaching centres are a source of livelihood for many retired Professors and school teachers. They actually nurture raw talent by helping candidates sharpen their basics first, rather than propagating the ‘learn by-heart’ technique adopted by teachers in most schools these days.

Moving further, Mr. Sibal could apply the same funda to the IIMs as well. The minimum cut off at graduation required to take the CAT could be raised between 75-80%. One can only imagine what would happen if this bar is raised. On the one hand, students would actually start taking their graduation studies seriously, just like the way they did at school. This would result in a spurt in the attendance levels at Colleges. But on the other hand, I can bet that this would dip the number of CAT aspirants each year, because every institution/college/university has their own unique marking/grading scheme which is not a unified pattern centrally. Hence the best of students would not be able to score the cut-off average, for no fault of theirs. (For eg, in Pune University, the marking is so strict, the University topper only scores around 70-72%. On the contrary, at Bangalore University, the topper scores anywhere between 85-90%).

But we need not worry. None of this is going to happen. Because unconfirmed reports doing the rounds in New Delhi have suggested that coaching centres have collectively bribed Mr. Sibal to the tune of Rs. 122 Crore to leave the pattern untouched and retract his statement, which he has already done. As always, its only about money, honey!

Lord, are you there?

Lord, if you are really there, can you please let me know when would this test of time end?

Is there no one in this world who I can open my heart out to, who can patiently hear me, without passing a remark or a comment???????

Our Kashmir gimmicks

Hon Mr Chidambaram had just made one of the most atrocious statements in our foreign affairs history when he said ‘Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made the policy of the government clear on many occasions. We are not afraid of dialogue…we are not shying away from talks. There will be a dialogue with every section of political opinion on the Kashmir problem’.

Is this a f***ing policy?

Dear Sir, I am not a lawyer, neither am I a certified expert on strategic affairs, but I have enough common sense to understand & judge how absurd your remark is. Your statement only reflects what should typically be called a part of the policy framework. i.e: who are the main players to engage if we are to resolve the crisis. Obviously, the Pakistan govt is one. The other could be the pro-terrorist, pro-Pakistani, anti-India separatists aka the Hurriyat Conference (all factions). I’d say that the people of J&K should not be a party to the dialogue since they have voted for & elected a state Govt which would represent them, hence justifying that they want to be a part of India. However, if we are open to their right of self-determination crap, then they too could be included in the process. Thankfully, the Govt is at least clear on one aspect, that it does not seek third party mediation for resolution of the dispute.

Now, let me define what could be our actual Kashmir policy:

• Giving up J&K to whoever wants it. If the people of the state want it, organise a plebiscite (as per the UN resolution), grant it independence and declare it a free state; or give it off to Pakistan since it is the only prospective buyer. I doubt if the Chinese would be interested in the purchase deal.
• Going to War with Pakistan in the event that it does not stop the proxy war in the state & elsewhere in our country (give them a deadline). To start the assault, launch covert military strikes at terrorist camps across the border which would then lead to a full scale conventional war and eventually provoke Pakistan to launch nuclear warheads at us, before which, we must strike at them with full force & eliminate Pakistan from the world’s political map (I fully trust our Military forces. They have the capability to inflict maximum damage & crush any adversary). If we want to deter Pakistan from launching nuclear weapons at us in the first place, we must abolish the ‘No first use’ policy of our nuclear doctrine. I clearly remember the former Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf explicitly stating in an interview that in terms of conventional warfare since India had a definitive edge over them & in order to protect the territorial integrity & sanctity of the state, they would not blink an eyelid before launching nuclear weapons against us. Hence for us to save our a**, we need to mend our Nuclear Doctrine.
• Converting the Line of Control into the International Border. This means that we would have to let go of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK).
• Recognising the International Border by reclaiming PoK. This can be done by using option 2 above. The only difference could be that by the time we take control of PoK (and before the war escalates to a nuclear level), Uncle Sam or some other useless entities like the UN call for a ceasefire & the conflict ends.

If the government is serious to resolve this imbroglio, it must first set its own house in order. We have to be crystal clear in our minds about what we want, our expectations, the extent to which we are willing to compromise & the repercussions of the probable solution. This approach of firing shots in the dark, hoping that it would hit some target, will not work, at least not in this case.

Swaminomics

I am not an ardent follower of Baba Ramdev, but have seen a bit of his gimmicks on television. I admit that he has motivated me to quit aerated drinks (cuz' he says cola’s are equivalent to toilet cleaners) & potato chips completely. As he propagates, I have also started having lauky (aka bottlegourd) juice first thing in the morning (testimony to the health effects of this juice is my father who religiously has it every single day & it has actually helped in keeping his sugar & cholesterol levels in check).

But I’m not here to heap praises on the guru. I am writing this to condemn the absolutely unnecessary criticism bestowed on him by everyone, especially the youth. I strongly defend the Baba, not for his views, but simply because of his right to express them! Our Constitution guarantees freedom of speech & expression as a fundamental right for every citizen. Then why make such a hue & cry if Baba Ramdev merely opens his gob?? Just because he openly expresses his displeasure on contentious issues (like gay rights)???

Speaking of rights, if : the present day youth have the right to be extremely vocal on a range of subjects & to blow their horns on changing attitudes & modernity; Political parties have the right to oppose any policies of the Govt; Civil society has the right to oppose any issues of national importance, so does the Guru. He has as much rights to publicly air his thoughts.

This is a clear example of how fraud our society is. Anyone who dares take on it, is censured. If supports it, is praised. The fundamental rights are not meant to sit peacefully in some statute in our Parliament. They are meant for us. For India. And how have we made a mockery of them!

On pain

‘Men & Women suffer alone over the choices they’ve made’.
- Narration by Kevin Arnold of The Wonder Years