Tag Archives: parliament

BOOK REVIEW: NO ONE IS TOO SMALL TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

February 14, 2020Uncategorizedactivist, asperger syndrome, book review, book synopsis, global warming, greta thunberg, johan rockstrom, kamlesh tripathi, no one is too small to make a difference, oil, parliament, penguin, scenes from the heart, shravancharitymission, sweden, UK, usashravancharitymission

Khidki (Window)

–Read India Initiative—

This is only an attempt to create interest in reading. We may not get the time to read all the books in our lifetime. But such reviews, talk and synopsis will at least convey what the book is all about.

This is a book by teenager climate activist Greta Thunberg, published on 30 May 2019. It consists of a collection of eleven speeches which she has written and orated about global warming and climate crisis.

Greta Thunberg, born in 2003, August, one day decided not to go to school. Instead, she started to strike outside the Swedish Parliament. Her actions sparked off a global movement on climate crisis, inspiring millions of pupils to go on strike to save our planet. This helped her earning the prestigious Prix Liberte, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Greta has Asperger’s syndrome (a developmental disorder characterised by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests). She considers it a gift that has enabled her to see the climate crisis ‘in black and white.’

‘No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference is Greta’s first book in English, a collection of her speeches from climate rallies across Europe to audiences at the UN, the World Economic Forum, and the British Parliament. Her next book, ‘Scenes from the Heart’ is a memoir, jointly written with her mother, the opera singer, Malena Ernman, her sister Beata Ernman, and her father Svante Thurnberg.

The subject book is by Penguin. In all 68 pages. In her speeches she makes some very relevant points that are as follows:

When school started in August this year I decided enough is enough. I sat on the ground outside the Swedish Parliament. I school-striked for the climate.
Climate scientist Johan Rockstrom and some other people wrote that we have at most three years to reverse growth in greenhouse –gas emissions if we were to reach the goals set in the Paris Agreement. Since then over a year and two months have already passed, and in that time many other scientists have said the same thing. Since then a lot of things have got worse and greenhouse emissions continue to increase.
In Sweden we live our lives as if we had the resources of 4.2 planets. Our carbon foot-print is one of the ten worst in the world. This means Sweden steals 3.2 years of natural resources from future generations every year. Those of us who are part of these future generations would like Sweden to stop doing that. She is not shy of criticizing her own country while trying to save the planet from global warming.
Many people say that Sweden is a small country, and that it doesn’t matter what we do. But I think it does matter what we do. I think if a few girls can get headlines all over the world by just not going to school for a few weeks, imagine what we could do together if we wanted to.
Newspapers continue not to write about climate change even when they know climate is a critical question of our time.
Many politicians have ridiculed me and us. They have called me retarded, a bitch, a terrorist and many other things.
When I was eight years old, I first heard about something called climate change, or global warming. Apparently a thing human beings had created by their way of living.
If burning fossil fuels was so very bad that it threatened our very existence, how could we just continue like before? Why were there no restrictions? Why wasn’t it made illegal?
Countries like Sweden, the US and UK need to start reducing emissions by at least 15 percent every year to stay below a 2 degree Celsius warming target. Now IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) say that we have to aim for 1.5 degree Celsius.
No one ever speaks about the aspect of equity, or climate justice, clearly stated all over in the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol, which is absolutely essential to make the Paris Agreement work on a global scale. This means rich countries need to get down to zero emissions, within six to twelve years, so that people in poorer countries can heighten their standard of living by building some of the infrastructure that we have already built, such as roads, hospitals, electricity, schools and clean drinking water. Otherwise, how can we expect countries like India or Nigeria to care about the climate crisis if we, who already have everything, don’t care even a second about it, basis our actual commitments to the Paris Agreement?
Why should I be studying for a future that’ll soon not be there, and moreover, when no one is doing anything whatsoever to save it?
Today we use 100 million barrels of oil every day. There are no policies to change that. There are no rules to keep that oil in the ground.
According to the IPCC, we are less than twelve years away from the point of no return to disaster. There are no grey areas when it comes to survival.
Here in Davos—just like everywhere else—everyone is talking about money. It seems that money and growth are our only main concerns.
We are now at a time in history where everyone with any insight of the climate crisis that threatens our civilization and the entire biosphere must speak out. The bigger your carbon footprint—the bigger your moral duty. The bigger your platform—the bigger your responsibility.
In May 2018 I was one of the winners in a writing competition about the environment held by Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish newspaper. I got my article published when some people contacted me, among them was Bo Thoren from Fossil Free Dalsland.
On the 20^th August I sat down outside the Swedish Parliament. I handed out fliers with a long list of facts about the climate crisis and explanations on why I was striking. The first thing I did was to post on Twitter and Instagram what I was doing and it soon went viral. Then journalists and newspapers started arriving. A Swedish entrepreneur and businessman active in the climate movement, Ingmar Rentzhog, was among the first to arrive. He spoke with me and took pictures that he posted on facebook.
Many people say that we don’t have any solutions to the climate crisis. And they are right. Because how do you ‘solve’ the greatest crisis that humanity has ever faced? How do you ‘solve’ a war? How do you ‘solve’ going to the moon for the first time? How do you ‘solve’ inventing new inventions?
The climate crisis is both the easiest and the hardest issue mankind has ever faced.

This is a priceless book written by a teenager activist hence I would not like to rate it. Instead, I would like to recommend the book to every citizen of the world.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10^th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS FIGURES & QUOTES-35

October 26, 2019Uncategorizedbabylon, bangladesh, bengal, billion, brazil, car, census, Dalai Lama, dollar, facts, figures, gdp, general awareness, general knowledge, hugh jackman, imf, india, Jewish, kamlesh tripathi, marathon, narendra modi, nationalism, odisha, parliament, patanjali, patriotism, quotes, railways, rosogolla, shravancharitymision, sprint, suv, usa, vehicles, zac golsmithshravancharitymission

Of all the waste we generate, plastic bags are perhaps the greatest symbol of our throwaway society: They leave a terrible legacy—ZAC GOLSMITH, UK politician.

The secret to modern life is finding the measure of time management. I have two kids, career and I travel, and I don’t think my life is any different than most couples. The most valuable commodity now for many people is time and how to parcel that out—Hugh Jackman.

An argument that has gained currency is that the economic motive for Bangladeshis to cross the border into India has begun to decline with an improvement in economic conditions at home. Data of last eight years lends credence to this argument.

Bangladesh has economically performed better since Census 2011. It has grown at over 7% over the last few years. IMF estimates that it’s likely to grow faster than India in 2019-20, at over 7.5%

The fact that 44.1% of the workers employed in agriculture produce only 15% of GDP means that output per worker in this sector is less than one-fourth of that in Industry and services combined.

Fire is generated by fire, fire is sustained by fire. Finally fire is consumed by fire.

The battle for the rosogolla has intensified with Odisha claiming that the legendary sweet wasn’t native of Bengal after all. This caused outrage among Bengalis who argued that those who attempt to take the rosogolla out of Bengal, deserve nothing but a (golla) zero in the mishti test.

Richness gives right direction to money, Whereas, greed gives wrong direction to money. Therefore, do understand that money is not the problem but your approach to money is the problem. The knife is not the problem but the one who uses the knife can use it either to cut a loaf of bread or someone’s throat.

Long back I read a book called the Richest Man in Babylon. A king approached a rich merchant and asked him, ‘How did you manage to earn money in this poor country?’ He said, ‘From whatever I earn, I give back 10% in charity.’ Even if you earn less give in charity, for then you are telling yourself that you’re bigger than money. It is only such a person who can create money.

‘When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways—either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits or by using the challenge to find our inner strength. Thanks to Buddha, I have been able to take the second way’—The XIV Dalai Lama

The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does. No country is correct all the time and criticising a wrong course does not make one unpatriotic.

When people are emotionally depleted, they stop focusing on their jobs and instead work on improving their moods.

Bosses with grit regard work as a marathon, not a sprint.

Myanmar ranks as the world’s most generous country, with almost all of its population donating for charity.

A recent CSDS opinion poll shows that 2014 onwards the support for Narendra Modi has grown dramatically in the 18-25 age group, up from 33% in 2018 to 40% in 2019.

Calmness of mind according to Patanjali, comes when we focus on a single thought for a long time. This process helps the brain to loosen other mental knots and allows the processing power of released neurons to focus on a single thought and helps in reducing traumatic memories.

India is world’s 3^rd largest network of railways spanning 64,600 km and 25,000 km of new lines to be added by 2020.

Increase in infrastructure investments of 1% of GDP results in additional 34 lakh jobs in India (Compared to 15 lakh in USA and 13 lakh in Brazil).

Indian wedding industry is now valued at 25.5 billion dollars a year.

Hindu India has been the sole nation on earth where the Jewish community has never been persecuted even though they have been living here for more than two thousand years.

The slum population of India has increased from 5.23 crores in 2001 to 6.55 crores in 2011.

The value of goods that lay unused in urban India is pegged at over Rs 56,000 crore.

It takes Rs 2.5 lacs per minute to run the Indian Parliament.

More than 1 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day.

SUVs have grown to more than 30% of the total luxury vehicles sold in India.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES–17

April 24, 2019casual causerie, causerie, column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, general knowledge, gk, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorizedafrica, agatha christie, atm, billion, breeze, cackle, census, china, djenne, facts, general knowledge, gk, goi, ipl, kamlesh tripathi, lines, mali, parliament, population, quotes, shakespeare, shravancharitymission, turn a hair, unicef, victor hugo, wang Jianlin, wordsmithshravancharitymission

Shoot the breeze—to have a casual conversation or to spend time talking about things that are not important.

Cut the cackle and come to the horses—to get down to business. Leave out the non-essentials and come to the part that matters. Agatha Christie was quite fond of this idiom and she has used it in some of her novels.

Not turn a hair—to remain unmoved or unaffected.

Shakespeare—arguably is the greatest wordsmith in the history of English language. Americans loved the Bard because they saw in him a pioneer: an inventive wordsmith who coined new words and expressions—some 1700 by one estimate.

Running the Parliament costs Rs 2.5 lakhs per minute or Rs 2 crore a day. MPs get Rs 2000 per day to attend Parliament. But does the country get the real worth out of the Parliament is the big question.

China has increased its investments enormously in the US in the last decade, employing 1,00,000 US workers compared to 10,000 in 2006.

Wang Jianlin is China’s richest man and the largest Chinese investor in the US.

A joint secretary in the Government of India is the administrative head of a department and has critical influence on its efficacy.

IPL ranks in the world’s top five sporting leagues.

A recent study by UNICEF on the economic impact of sanitation has estimated that in an open defecation free village, each family saves over Rs 50,000 per annum on account of avoided medical costs.

The ministry of law and justice has admitted that as of July last year, 24 high courts were functioning with only 615 out of the total sanctioned strength of 1079 judges. Where, center and state governments account for nearly 70% of cases in courts.

According to RBI data, total debit cards in India went up from 623.67 million (about 62 crore) in November 2015 to 867.35 million (about 87 crore) in September 2016 (a 39% jump, even if many people have multiple cards). Similarly, payments through pre-paid instruments like m-wallet or PPI cards went up from 62.66 million (more than 6 crore) in November 2015 to 97.07 million (that is more than 9 crores) in September 2016 (a jump of 54.9%).

There are 250-300 million or say 25-30 crore Indians with a smart phone.

The stark fact is that in a country of 1.2 billion people, we currently have only 2.50 lakh ATM machines.

I am told there is a magnificent archaeological site in western Africa—the vast ruins of Djenne in Mali. Apparently, this was a city of over 1,00,000 people one thousand years ago—a world class metropolis in the first millennium. A visitor to the site observed: “Its art was stunning. Its architecture reflected a complex society … what struck me the most, however, was the fact that it had been completely ignored by western archaeologists for decades, because they found no evidence of military constructions! The Djenne civilisation did not find its strength through military conquest or intimidation of its people, but through cooperation. It was a great city built not on fear, but friendship.

Stubble burning: Labour has become expensive, therefore mechanical harvesting is done for big fields. But the machine for harvesting leaves 25% of the stem during the harvest. This again, has to be cut, by another machine. So, burning the crop residue is easier and that is called stubble burning. There is an imposition of a maximum fine of Rs 15,000 for stubble burning for farmers.

India occupies 2.4% of the world’s land area and supports over 17.5% of the world’s population. India has more arable land area than any other country except for the United States, and more water area than any other country except Canada and the United States. Indian life therefore revolves mostly around agriculture and allied activities in small villages, where the overwhelming majority of the population live.

As per the 2001 census, 72.2% of the Indian population lives in about 638,000 villages and the remaining 27.8% lives in more than 5,100 towns and over 380 urban agglomerations.

In 1901 the world population was 1.6 billion. By 1960, it became 3 billion, and by 1987, 5 billion and in 1999, 6 billion. Currently, one billion people are added every 12 – 13 years.

When we see the population growth in India we find the population of the country was 27.13 crore in the year 1900, from where it decreased to 26.31 crore in 1925 which sounds impossible and then from there it increased to 35.04 crore in 1950 and 36.23 crore in 1951. From here onwards the population growth took exponential proportions of growth to 43.88 crore in 1961, 54.79 crore in 1971, 68.52 crore in 1981, 84.39 crore in 1991, and 102.70 crore in 2001.

With over 1 billion people, India is currently the World’s second largest populated Country. India crossed one billion mark in the year 2000 that is one year after the World’s population crossed the six billion threshold. It is expected that India’s population will surpass the population of China by 2030 when it would have more than 153 crore of population while China would be number two with a population of 146 crore.

Since 1947, the population of India has more than tripled which has resulted in increasingly impoverished and sub-standard conditions in the growing segments of the Indian population. In 2007, India ranked 126^th on the United Nation’s Human Development Index, which takes into account social, health, and educational conditions in a country.

Britian is already the largest investor in India among the G20 countries and India invests more in the UK than in any other country.

Gotra—is the male bloodline that links Hindus with a range of ancient sages.

The value of rupee has changed from Rs 17.50 per dollar in 1990 to Rs 74 per dollar today.

Interesting quotes and lines:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do”—Steve Jobs.

Alexander the great might just be right. “I’m not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I’m afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

“Virtue has a veil, vice a mask”—Victor Hugo.

“To error is human; to forgive divine”—Alexander Pope, English poet.

“The first requisite of civilisation is that of justice”—Sigmund Freud.

“Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems”—Greek philosopher, Epictetus.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES EPISODE 15

April 4, 2019article, column, facts, General awareness & Knowledge, general knowledge, interesting facts, quote, quotes and lines, snippet, Uncategorizedasat missile, begusarai, blasphemy, china, election, facts, gk, hamlet, interesting facts, interesting lines, israel, jew, kamlesh tripathi, kanhaiya kumar, median age, modi, netanyahu, pakistan, parliament, quotes, sanctuary, scandinavia, shravancharitymission, space, teacher absenteism, tiger, tigers, votershravancharitymission

INTERESTING FACTS

Hamletian dilemma: The phrase is derived from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. When Hamlet, the prince of Dutch learns that his father was murdered by his uncle, he is in a dilemma as to whether he should avenge his father’s death or continue ruling the kingdom.
Begusarai was once known as the “Leningrad” of Bihar, or the “Leningrad” of East. It was recently in news again, because the Communists, are trying to field Kanhaiya Kumar from this pro Communist constituency. Leningrad as we all know is a place in Russia. The famous siege of Leningrad lasted from September 1941 to 1944. By the end of the siege, some 632,000 people are thought to have died with nearly 4,000 people from Leningrad starving to death on Christmas Day, 1941. The first German artillery shell fell on Leningrad on September 1st, 1941.
Teacher absenteeism accounts for the loss of up to one-quarter of the primary school spending. A World Bank Report estimates this loss to be about $2 billion a year in India, just at the primary level.
With a median age of 27.9 years in 2018, India’s population is quite young. By 2020, youth will make up for 34% of India’s population.
Forty-five million young people have been added to the voters list since 2014. Based on 2011 Census, about two crore youngsters turn 18 every year, even though not everyone gets registered to vote.
India has shown responsibility and restraint by targeting a satellite at 300 km altitude, as opposed to China destroying a satellite at the height of 857 km in 2007, which created a lot of risky debris. But even the Indian test has a small likelihood of creating some debris that gets thrown into the higher orbits.
One of the reasons for lesser concern with India’s test has to do with the height of the test. At 300 kilometers, the debris may survive just for months, if not weeks. At 800 kilometers, the Chinese satellite debris has already survived for more than a decade and may survive for a few more years.
India has demonstrated that it can take down satellites in Low Earth Orbits of less than 2,000 km above the surface.
There are over 22,000 artificial objects currently in the orbit that are being tracked by one government agency or another. The European Space Agency estimates that currently there over 34,000 pieces of debris in the orbit that are larger than 10 cm in size; close to a million pieces between 1 cm and 10 cm; and 128 million pieces of debris less than a centimeter in size. With reducing satellite size and the increasing frequency of space launches, this is only set to grow rapidly.
UTSAVA- is a Sanskrit word. Where, UT –means to ‘let go’ or remove and SAVA means worldly sorrows hence the complete word UTSAVA means to “let go your sorrows.”
In the Scandinavian countries without any reservations, around half the MPs are women. In India we only keep talking of 33% which is not happening.
Earth orbital safety in the 21^st century is as vital as shipping lane security was, in the 20th century.
The Lucas critique, named after Robert Lucas‘s work on macroeconomic policy making, argues that it is naive to try to predict the effects of a change in economic policy entirely on the basis of human relationships observed in historical data, especially highly aggregated historical data.
Marriage industry of India boasts about 10 million weddings a year.
There are reports that Pakistan is collaborating with China to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft. India too needs to double up.
In Hindu philosophy the soul is interpreted as being without a gender.
Security cooperation was one of the reasons why PM Narasimha Rao formally opened diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992, followed by purchase of India’s first IAI Searcher unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and an air combat manoeuvring system from Israel in 1996.
India is the largest single market for Israeli arms. Israeli arms sale to India is only second to Russia, having gone up by 650% in the past decade, now amounting to $715 million in 2017 alone. IAF misslies fired in Balakot reportedly used Israeli made SPICE-2000 GUIDANCE KITS.
Modi was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Tel-Aviv in July 2017 and then came the visit of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Delhi in January 2018.
Israel is virtually a ‘nation-at-arms’ country. It has always had conscription, or draft, or compulsory enlistment of people in national service. Every Israeli man (who’s Jew or Druze, excepting those with medical disabilities or religious scholars) above 18 serves in the military for 36 months, and every Israeli woman for 24 months.
The National bill of Israel passed in 2018 specified Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. This makes Israeli state closer to a theocratic one.
Iron and steel accounts for roughly 15-20 % of the total cost in real estate.
Global warming: When Americans were experiencing bone-chilling temperatures on January 29, the world was actually 0.3 degrees warmer on an average compared to a baseline from 1979 to 2000.
Among all the 13 tiger range countries, India alone has the maximum number of tigers (70% of the global wild tiger population) and their source areas. This impressive gain is there despite the fact that our per capita forest is only 0.06 hectare as against the world average of 0.6 hectare, apart from having 60% of global livestock, 17% of world’s human population, with a forest productivity of around 1.34 cubic metre per hectare per year as against world’s average of 2.1 cubic metre per hectare per year.
It has been documented that around 67,911 hectares of forest cover has been lost in 188 districts of India between 2009 and 2011 due to encroachment.

Quotes

Earth: The soil is her flesh, the rocks are her bones, and the wind is her breath; trees and grass her hair. She lives, spreads out, and we live on her. When she moves we have an earthquake—Rabbi Ezekiel Malekar
In real life it is the hare who wins—ANITA BROOKNER, award winning novelist.
Mary Shelley projected through the character, Frankenstein. We all are threatened by the monsters we create. They don’t come into being on their own.
Every fair-minded person holding a position of authority must support the few who have stood up against the injustice being perpetrated in the name of blasphemy—ASMA JAHANGIR, Pakistani Human Rights lawyer and activist.
If you don’t have a coalition with you, you will have a coalition against you—SHIMON PERES. Israeli politician who served as the ninth President of Israel.
‘No book is perennially useful to mankind,’ says English philosopher David Hume.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

Share it if you like it

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

EVEN#WOMEN #MPs NEED TO BE REMINDED ABOUT ARCHAIC #ABORTION LAWS IN INDIA

July 27, 2016article, article on feedback, articles, column, interesting facts, political article, politics, short article, short article on politics, short article- politics, short political article, short story, Uncategorized20 weeks, 24 weeks, abnormalities, abortion, article, court, foetus, high court, lok sabha, Member of Parliament, minor, parliament, rajya sabha, rape, rape victim, ruling party, story, supreme court, treasury benches, womenshravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

There are 544 members in the 16^th Lok Sabha, and 244 members in the Rajya Sabha, which totals up to 788 MPs. Out of this there are 93 women MPs. That includes the powerful speaker of Lok-Sabha who happens to be a lady. And, yet they don’t have the time and will, and needed to be reminded about the draft Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2014. Pending for a long time now. I am more than sure they all understand the seriousness about abortion laws. Especially, when the foetus has abnormalities or is an ugly consequence of a rape. The editorial in Times of India is an apt reminder not only to our women MPs, who should use women power to get the bill through but even to all our legislators. Currently the apex courts are doing the job of legislators. Read the article below.

IT’S HER BODY

Today’s society and science demand an upgrade of the abortion law 1971

Parliament’s lackluster pace of legislating leaves citizens suffering various outdated laws. Two cases in the courts this week draw attention to the human costs of a delay in amending the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971—even though an updated draft has been on the table for years. Both cases concern the medical terminations of pregnancy being permitted only up to 20 weeks, a limit that made sense in terms of society and science four decades ago but is seriously out of step with the many developments since. When law’s failure to keep pace with science and global best practices becomes the cause of citizen’s suffering, its very purpose is subverted.

In one case on Monday the Supreme Court allowed a rape survivor to terminate her 24-week old pregnancy. This is the first judicially sanctioned abortion beyond 20 weeks. It followed upon a medical board reporting severe abnormalities in the foetus and its threatening implications for the petitioner. The point of note is that medical technology today can disclose much more information about the foetus after 20 weeks than earlier. Plus, it can make termination of the pregnancy safe for the carrying woman even at 24 weeks.

In another case also on Monday the Delhi high court granted similar relief to a teenaged rape survivor, provided an AIIMS medical panel certifies that the abortion of her 25-week foetus would be safe for this minor. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that the existing law, with its 2002 amendment, is adequate to handling pregnancy complications warranting abortion after 20 weeks. But the above two cases show that women stuck in such a situation have to seek an exception through the courts, which imposes additional trauma upon women who are already traumatized. Given the logjam at our courts, this also leaves their life in a race against time.

The draft Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2014 provides for abortion beyond 20 weeks under well defined conditions such as if mother’s life is endangered or the pregnancy is caused by rape. Centre should push for this updated legislation instead of upholding a status quo scripted four decades ago. Medical opinion and women’s groups are agreed and it is not even politically contentious. Every delay in passing an upgrade endangers many women’s lives.

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JUDGES TO APPOINT JUDGES … a voter’s perspective

October 18, 2015articleanna, appointment of judges, article, beef, bjp, cec, congress, executive, four estates, Gandhi, government, Hindu, indira gandhi, judiciary, kasmiri pandits, legislative, media, muslims, netas, njac, parliament, political party, supreme court, votershravancharitymission

By Kamlesh Tripathi

Supreme Court has the done the right thing by keeping the corrupt executive and legislative out of the process of appointing judges. Some electronic media channels have also termed it as ‘Supreme Court’s judgement against the will of the people,’ rather I would call it ‘Supreme Court’s judgement against the will of the L&A,’ (legislative and elective) and not the people of India. Consequent to this, a spate of debates, have taken place in political circles, the print media and more vociferously in the electronic media, but sadly the general public is again a mute spectator in all of this. So from a voter’s perspective let me put forth some arterial points to which the big guns of the country may not be privy to.

Government and some political parties, (because now Congress like a chameleon has changed its colour) feel the traditional collegium system of judicial appointments is opaque, out-dated, and even has deficiencies. But, as a common man I feel this opacity and deficiency is hundred times better than the blatant corruption and callousness of the L&A. For over a period of time since independence the ‘trust deficit’ between the common man vis-a-vis the L&A has only increased and therefore, why would the common man trust the L&A when it comes to appointment of judges. In that manner Supreme Court has shown maturity by drawing a line and not allowing them to tamper with the process of justice, even if it happens to be appointment of judges. In a healthy democracy some amount of turf war is desirable between the L&A and the judiciary. The moment the executive takes over judiciary, it will become like the various inefficient police departments of India that wag their tails incessantly only in front of the political class without performing their actual duty, and where the concept of a world class policing doesn’t even exist.

Democracy is only good if it is played as a gentleman’s game, but unfortunately this game in India has now been completely taken over by the goondas, opportunists and cheats, where the few honest ones are not even visible; and there is a great risk that if judiciary too goes into their hands, nothing will be left in the common man’s hand.

Across all political parties a trait exists that as long as they are in the opposition they talk the common man’s language but when they attain power they show their real teeth. When BJP was not in power they used to talk about anti-vvip culture, but now all their guns are blazing to promote VVIPISM. They are now snooping in to net- neutrality and even dictating what to eat and what not to eat. They had never shown their real teeth before elections otherwise probably they wouldn’t have won. Congress is no different.

Even after 68 years of independence the entire political class could not produce another Gandhi or anyone close to him and that itself speaks of the hollowness in the character of politicians that sum up as political class. 65% of India’s population was born after 1970s and the political class that often keeps harping about high standards of values and morals could not even produce a modern day Gandhi as a role model for the youth of this country. Some could only see a glimpse of that in Anna Hazare.

In the past we have had politicians like Sanjay Gandhi who forcefully got people sterilised, and then you had Mrs Indira Gandhi who for her own personal benefit forced the state of emergency down every Indians throat, how very selfish. There have been riots where thousands of Sikhs were killed, lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out of their homes, together with several Hindu-Muslim riots in which members of both communities have been killed and all of this happened at the subtle behest of the political parties that runs the L&A. So how will such people add any value in appointment of judges?

In India democracy is only for the day of the voting and thereafter the elected politician has no connect with his voters, election commission also doesn’t monitor this, and therefore he is a tiger for the next five years. They rarely meet their voters and are only surrounded by sycophants and coteries. Most of them are low on morals and are criminals and only believe in promoting their family. They also enact laws that suits the entire political class, without showing any morals or respect to the common man, such as keep contesting elections even if you have cases against you till the matter is finally decided by the highest court, going on foreign jaunts when the state is reeling under famine, increased VVIPISM, vote bank politics and the list is endless.

If the elected legislative wants NJAC, that does not mean the voters also want it. Elected legislative has only become an eye wash for people’s mandate. Elected members do not discuss issues of national importance or state importance with their voters back in their constituencies to take their mind. So it is wrong to say that in every important decision the will of the people is involved. Rather the elected member listens only to his party diktats which may or may not suit the voters of his constituency. Voters are supposed to vote as per their choice after ascertaining what the political Party has to offer through its manifesto. But in today’s India political parties don’t work as per their manifestos, rather some don’t even release their manifestos, some only release their vision documents, and some work totally against their manifestos. And the election commission has no check on them. In fact Supreme Court has issued guidelines on this but political parties have not responded.

If we allow the L&A to takeover the media and the judiciary there is a great risk of political class playing havoc with the general masses.

What is legislated in the parliament is necessarily not what the people of India want and what people of India want is often not legislated in the parliament or the state assemblies. This is because the elected members have lost connect with their voters. For example the entire India wants VVIPracism to be abolished but has the government tried to enact any legislation to abolish it? On the contrary VVIPISM is only growing in this country.

Amongst the four pillars of democracy the L&A has largely let the masses of India down and there is now only hope from the media and judiciary and in no manner should they allow the L&A to enter their turf in the interest of the masses.

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article: The magic art of ‘Chamchagiri’

December 16, 2014article, article on feedback, casual causerie, causerie, column, SATTIRE, short article, short story, snippetaidmk, Assembly, bjp, bsp, bureaucrats, chamchas, chumchagiri, congress, CPI, cpm, dmk, ministers, mla, mp, netas, parliament, police, political parties, professionals. politicians, security personnel, sp, subservient, sychophancy, tamilnadushravancharitymission

Word #chamchagiri (sycophancy) requires no introduction. Even the so called English gentry of our country, understands it well enough. And, in India nothing meaty can be obtained without this art of arts, more precisely the mother of all arts.

During our lifetime we all aspire to become qualified professionals such as engineer, doctor, lawyer, bureaucrat, chartered accountant and the list goes on and on for which we go to professional colleges and even qualify through tough exams. But, for this particular ‘art’ you needn’t go to any University to obtain a degree. Yet it remains the most powerful tool of success in contemporary times.

BUT, WHY CHAMCHAGIRI?

Because, it is a two way requirement and has now become a status symbol. If you call yourself a VIP you must have chamchas around you. Without chamchas you don’t qualify as a VIP. Conversely, to survive, grow and secure yourself also you need to do Chamchagiri. Perhaps, that increases your tailwind and catapults you way ahead of competition.

HISTORY OF CHAMCHAGIRI

It was always there. We have glaring examples of Chamchas operating out of darbars and courts of erstwhile Rajwaras and Kings, in tall Empires, and even in hallowed establishments.

But in earlier times it was considered a menial habit almost close to beggary which has now evolved into a refined and potent art that pays handsome lifetime dividends, which not everyone can learn. Its crafty students are found buzzing around the bureaucratic circles, in corporate corridors, swarming the political circles around parliament and Assembly; and at times it also seeps into the forbidden-the judiciary.

While, some people through chamchagiri have escalated the growth of their career by coining catchy statements like ‘Indira is India and India is Indira’ made by Dev Kant Barua, the then Congress President. Others have shown it through self arrived, trait and gestures. Such as a Chief Minister picking up chappals of Prime Minister’s son and making him wear it again while it slipped out in a muddy field during a political campaign. Some more examples that stand tall in my memory is a Police officer touching a senior netas feet, in full Police uniform. A security personnel cleaning the sandal of a lady Chief Minister, and also the state of art gesture of prostrating in front of the lady Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Mrs J Jayalalithaa.

But a recent one that I saw looked a little desperate. This Chamcha had a red plate above his car number plate that read, ‘Vidhayak ka Pratinidhi’ (Representative of MLA). Trying to please his master by becoming his representative. Some Chamchas learn this telling art just to make a living and not to catapult their careers which is still understandable like the one above.

I have often thought about the genesis of this disease called ‘Chamchagiri.’ To me it always appeared as a colonial and a feudal requirement for a better survive. But the hangover of it has only increased when it should have gone down with the world becoming more business like.

And, if chamchagiri can get you two square meals I would send calling for the HRD ministry to at least announce a ‘Certificate course’ in the subject to reduce unemployment for now.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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article: The magic art of ‘Chamchagiri’