The most ironical fact when we meet our NRI relatives and friends is that they are talking about the sad state of affairs in India especially when it comes to traffic, cleanliness, bureaucracy and food amongst other problems.
Fortunately or not, I have had my share of interactions with NRI’s due to the nature of my job and also due to the number of my friends and relatives who now live abroad. This cribbing is by far the most irritating aspect common amongst most 1st generation NRI’s. In fact I truly believe that “I” should be taken out of their classification (NRI) as some one who has lived in India, studied Engineering, Medical and Management at dirt cheap rates in India is now building up a foreign economy by contributing there as a consumer and as somebody who is providing services outside India because of the education that he/ she received in India. On top of that he is paying taxes to the government there and his income is used to build up that foreign land and none of it is contributing to the Indian economy and building up our wonderful country. If at all someone has a right to question the system effectiveness it is only some one who is building the system and not some one who is only using the system.
So NRI’s have no contribution in building up our economy as they are not paying direct or indirect taxes in India so they have absolutely no right to use whatever India has to offer, leave alone criticize it. These NRI’s can at best be called as tourists and welcomed as one. Just as I cant go to Turkey or Thailand and criticize their country for lack of civic amenities these guys can't do that in India.
There are two exceptions here, especially NRI’s from Kerala/ Punjab who have their families in India do remit money for their families helping Indian economy in the balance of payments (BOP) and supplying us with enough foreign currency through remittances to their own families, this aspect is deeply welcomed by the government of India. The government also supports and motivates NRI’s looking at business investments in India and is providing preferential treatment to NRI's looking at such opportunities in India.
The second group could be NRI’s who have always lived abroad and have been born an bred on foreign bread and have studied there as well, atleast such NRI’s do not have the sort of negative impact on India that the other set has as they have used all benefits that the government has provided and the time for payback came in these guys always took the easy way out (Brain Drain).
As they said in my favorite film RDB”Koi desh perfect nahi hota, usse perfect banana parta hai”
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
What Muslims were to BJP, Maoists are to Cong: Arundhati Roy
Monday, October 26, 2009
What Muslims were to BJP, Maoists are to Cong: Arundhati Roy
New Delhi, 25 OCT: Supporting unconditional talks with the Maoists, Booker prize winner and activist Arundhati Roy has alleged that “economic interests” in mineral-rich states have driven the government and establishment to launch action against them.“My fear is that because of this economic interest the government and establishment actually needs a war. It needs to militarise. For that it needs an enemy. And so in a way what the Muslims were to BJP, the Maoists are to Congress...,” Roy said in an interview with Karan Thapar in his programme Devil's Advocate for CNN-IBN channel.When asked about the talks between the Government and Left Wing extremists, she said: “There should be unconditional talks with the Maoists.“If I was a person who is being dispossessed, whose wife has been raped, who is being pushed of their land and who is being faced with this ‘police force’, I would say that I am justified in taking up arms. If that is the only way I have to defend myself,” she said when asked whether armed struggle was justified.“We should stop thinking about who is justified...You have an army of very poor people being faced down by an army of rich that are corporate-backed. I am sorry but it is like that. So you can't extract morality from the heinous act of violence that each commits against the other,” she said. ;PTI
Source: The Statesman 26 October 2009
What Muslims were to BJP, Maoists are to Cong: Arundhati Roy
New Delhi, 25 OCT: Supporting unconditional talks with the Maoists, Booker prize winner and activist Arundhati Roy has alleged that “economic interests” in mineral-rich states have driven the government and establishment to launch action against them.“My fear is that because of this economic interest the government and establishment actually needs a war. It needs to militarise. For that it needs an enemy. And so in a way what the Muslims were to BJP, the Maoists are to Congress...,” Roy said in an interview with Karan Thapar in his programme Devil's Advocate for CNN-IBN channel.When asked about the talks between the Government and Left Wing extremists, she said: “There should be unconditional talks with the Maoists.“If I was a person who is being dispossessed, whose wife has been raped, who is being pushed of their land and who is being faced with this ‘police force’, I would say that I am justified in taking up arms. If that is the only way I have to defend myself,” she said when asked whether armed struggle was justified.“We should stop thinking about who is justified...You have an army of very poor people being faced down by an army of rich that are corporate-backed. I am sorry but it is like that. So you can't extract morality from the heinous act of violence that each commits against the other,” she said. ;PTI
Source: The Statesman 26 October 2009
Maoism my views
Any attempts to eliminate all Naxalites/ Maoists would create more Maoists. If one clearely has a look at the story of the Rajdhani express one would know that they were armed with basic weapons and hardly had firearms. Maosim is not equivalent to terrorism as it is often equated to be as this is just a reaction of a common man to the problems that he is facing. He was anyways fighting for survival and on top of that rising food prices are not helping him out in anyway. If that was too less the threat of draught and floods. Its a story of every year.
If one looks at the places where Naxalism is active we would see that places like Jharkhand, Orissa, Vidarbha, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh are also the poorest parts of the country, the stories of atrocities on the common people here is not unknown to everybody. Also these are zones of a lot of action from mother nature be it floods or draughts or both as we are still dependent on rains to take care of our crop.
Strangely the most ambitious project called the River Linking Project which was targeted to take care of all our future water requirements and problems. The problems of draughts as well as floods wont exist but it has been strangely scrapped. No one knows or understands why it has been scrapped but one can only say that probably it happened as it was an ambitious project started off by a party which is now sitting in opposition. Strangely the government is not under scrutiny for this. If India can affoard construction of a Dalit memorial for 800 cr we definitely deserve a project like this.
The media is always present when Mr. Rahul Gandhi is present in a village eating with them and presenting its views on how great our leaders are. Mr. Gandhi himself has said that Naxalism is caused due to the inability of the government to reach out to its people. This statement was meant to attack the state governments where Naxalism is common but the fact is that Centre is as much responsible for this
The fact is that any villager in these areas is a potential Naxalite as his land is often forcibly taken away in the name of development, anyone who has land is still a farmer and any one who loses it either commits a suicide or is a Naxal or in our government's terms more dangerous than terrorists.
Its better that we concentrate on the reason rather than putting fingers on our neighbours for this movement and their funding. Atleast people who have survived the attack on Rajdhani Express should understand and share this view with me as miraculously all of them are unhurt even after the hijack.
All these are major problems that our government does not seem to have an intent to sort out quickly and are now talking about using force, which would ultimately create more and more Naxals or so called TERRORISTS.
If one looks at the places where Naxalism is active we would see that places like Jharkhand, Orissa, Vidarbha, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh are also the poorest parts of the country, the stories of atrocities on the common people here is not unknown to everybody. Also these are zones of a lot of action from mother nature be it floods or draughts or both as we are still dependent on rains to take care of our crop.
Strangely the most ambitious project called the River Linking Project which was targeted to take care of all our future water requirements and problems. The problems of draughts as well as floods wont exist but it has been strangely scrapped. No one knows or understands why it has been scrapped but one can only say that probably it happened as it was an ambitious project started off by a party which is now sitting in opposition. Strangely the government is not under scrutiny for this. If India can affoard construction of a Dalit memorial for 800 cr we definitely deserve a project like this.
The media is always present when Mr. Rahul Gandhi is present in a village eating with them and presenting its views on how great our leaders are. Mr. Gandhi himself has said that Naxalism is caused due to the inability of the government to reach out to its people. This statement was meant to attack the state governments where Naxalism is common but the fact is that Centre is as much responsible for this
The fact is that any villager in these areas is a potential Naxalite as his land is often forcibly taken away in the name of development, anyone who has land is still a farmer and any one who loses it either commits a suicide or is a Naxal or in our government's terms more dangerous than terrorists.
Its better that we concentrate on the reason rather than putting fingers on our neighbours for this movement and their funding. Atleast people who have survived the attack on Rajdhani Express should understand and share this view with me as miraculously all of them are unhurt even after the hijack.
All these are major problems that our government does not seem to have an intent to sort out quickly and are now talking about using force, which would ultimately create more and more Naxals or so called TERRORISTS.
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