Aarakshan-a good movie

There was huge hue& cry before release of this movie because everyone thought it is against reservation. Anti-reservation forces –the middle class was anticipating that the movie will provide momentum against the reservation policy. But it was shock & surprise for them that in the movie the hatred faced by the low caste people is exposed.

Amitabh Bachhan played a role of principal who is from higher caste & he favours the policy of reservation. He plays the role of honest princilal who is impartial when it comes to matter of caste. Manoj Balpayee played a role of corrupt professor who utilizes the sentiments against the reservation for his own profit. Saif Ali Khan is a lower caste who is in love with Deepika padukone . Pratik Babbar has played a role of high caste youth. Everyone has done justice to their roles.

Finally the movie did not become hit at box office. The reason is that the movie was not in favour of the so called Indian middle class who is antio-reservationist. Overall Prakash has to be praised for his brave attempt to show the hatred by the high caste people against the lower caste people in a small manner. Actuallly this hatred is much more in practice by higher caste students & professors.

CORRUPTION IN PRIVATE SECTOR

No doubt the movement for Lokpal Bill by Anna Hazare is praiseworthy but people are only talking about corruption by government officials and politicians. What about the private sector, which includes traders, landlords, big businessmen, builders and industrialists. They are the main source of corruption. Traders evade taxes and in turn, generate black money. Many film stars evade income taxes, which also contributes to black money. Now look who is talking against corruption. It is a well known fact that some of the industrialists have become multi-billionaire by adopting corrupt tactics in connivance with the top bureaucrats and policy-makers. But remember that only a few of them are friendly with top businessmen. The process of liberalization has opened the floodgates to accumulate huge wealth for the top industrialists and businessmen. This huge wealth is the biggest contribution towards black money but surprisingly no one is pointing fingers to this category of people.

The top 5% of the Indian population have multiplied their wealth manifold and they have problems to keep money. This money goes to the Swiss banks. Now the time has come to bring the private sector under the ambit of RTI and the Lokpal Act. Often the argument is given that the private sector does not get any government funding so they should not be brought under the RTI Act. As the private sectors and traders use land, water and electricity of this country and their activities are within the boundary of this country, there should not be any hitch in applying any law to this category of people.

There is diversity and exploitation in every walk of the society. Casteism is the main source of inequality. Corruption breeds easily in an unequal society. Unless casteism is eradicated fully, there is no chance of reducing corruption.

RESERVATION IN MUMBAI ENGINEERING COLLEGES

There are about 52 Engineering colleges in Mumbai university area & out of them 22 colleges are in minority category. Minority category includes Sindhi, Bhojpuri, Malyalam, Muslim, Sikh, Christian etc. They do not give reservations to SC/ST/OBC categories. These 22 colleges include top 12 colleges of Mumbai. The unavailability of reservation is against the principle of inclusive development of all. There are many obstacles in implementation of reservation policy. Then, why such hue & cry is made against the reservations?

A TRIBUTE TO DR. AMBEDKAR.

On 6th December 2010, we are observing the 54th death anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar. The followers of Dr. Ambedkar from all over India will throng to the Chaityabhoomi, Mumbai, to pay homage to the great man of this millennium. The life of this great man is a saga of struggle for upliftment of the poor and the downtrodden. Casteism and untouchability is a curse to the Indian society. The low-caste people were living a life worst than animals. In fact, castism is worse than slavery of western country. Babasaheb himself had to undergo the wrath of high caste people throughout his life. Tears automatically roll out of the eyes when one goes through the stories where Babasaheb has to suffer at the hands of Savarnas when he was a child and student. But he never bowed down and has done great work for the downtrodden. Oxford University has published a book ‘Makers of the Universe’, and in that, they rank Lord Buddha in the number one position and Dr. Ambedkar as the fourth. Even Barack Obama recognized Babasaheb’s greatness in his parliamentary speech.

Millions of people have improvised their lives through government jobs by using reservation. Some became IAS officers; some became MPs. Could these people get this status without reservation given by Dr. Ambedkar? Unfortunately, some people have forgotten the path shown by Babasaheb. They do not think beyond their families. Some people even hide their castes. Babasaheb expected that the educated people will show light to the people who are poor and downtrodden. But unfortunately, these people betrayed the hopes of Dr. Ambedkar and as a result, the movement started by Babasaheb is slowing down. Only poor people & villagers are participating in the movements. Could these people wake up now & contribute to the movement of Dr. Ambedkar by coming out of their homes?

I will visit Chaityabhoomi, Dadar, Mumbai to pay homage to this messiah of the downtrodden.

OH ! GOD MPS ARE POOR

Oh! God MPs are poor. It is the perceptions of MPs of India. They have decided to take 300 percent hike in salary for them. They thought that they are the poor people of India & are not in a position to serve the country due to their poverty. Maharashtra govt did not lag behind & decided to hike the salary by 60 percent for their MLAs. Other state govts are likely to follow the suit.

First corporate India started giving hefty salary to their employees. It caused tremendous inflation. To cope up the inflation, the govts have given the pay hikes to their employees. Now the MPs are following the suit. These pay hikes all around is going to cause the inflation. The two categories i.e. farmers & labourers in unorganized sector are going to be severely hit by the inflation & they are not going to get any kind of relief like others got. The vicious circle of inflation is going to cause some more suicides of farmers.

The corporate India is multiplying their wealth & they have defeated American Industrialists in this race. In India, industrialists can take advantage of loopholes in the laws or violate the laws & can go unpunished. Whereas in countries like USA & China such violaters of are hanged. There is no control over the such greedy industrialists. Some Industrialists have become billionaire overnight in connivance with some greedy politicians. We have forgotton the socialistic model of mixed economy of Nehru. Now our politician are dreaming to make India superpower at the cost of lives of farmers.

Farmers Suicides in Vidarbha

Every day farmers of Vidarbha are committing suicides & more or less same trend is seen in entire India. As per one survey, more than 40000 farmers have committed suicides in entire India in the past one & half decade. The figure has become alarming. It seems nobody bothers since farmers suicides have become daily affair.

Few years back farmers were happy community. They were earning sufficient & were leaving dignified life as they did not have to face inflation. Farmers by nature are simple & straight people. Now they cannot cope up with rising inflation & they prefer to die instead of facing society as a dejected person. They feel ashamed in the society if they are not able to repay the loans which forces them to take the root of suicides. The reasons of suicides are purely economical policies of the govt. The policy of LPG i.e. Liberalization, Privatization & Globalization have hit the poor sections of society bitterly. It gave the farmers suicides in legacy. Maharashtra govt has set up a committee to find out the reasons of suicide. A fat report was submitted blaming on failures of monsoon, uncontrollable pests, reduction in sizes of land holdings due to population increase, increase in the cost of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. etc.

Real reason of suicides is rising cost of living which is a byproduct of LPG. No doubt , there is economic progress of India but it has benefited Industrialists & urban higher middle class. The ill effects of LPG have hit the poor sections of society. Profit margins of Industrialists have multiplied but the incomes of farmers gone downwards. It has become difficult for farmers to cope up with the inflation & they get trapped in the vicious circle of debt. Govt has not come with any concrete policy to counter the affected sections of the society suffered by LPG policy. Another example is privatization has fully stopped the recruitment of SC/STs. .No govt has bothered about ill effects of LPG.

Farmers are dying but no politicians are bothering. In fact the top politicians & Industrialists are multiplying their wealth & farmers are becoming poorer & poorer day by day. They have become insensitive towards the sorrows & pains of the poor. I recall the sensitivity of Freedom fighter Sane Guruji . This great man has written mind boggling books like Shyamchi Aai & also gone in jail while fighting for freedom movement of India. But independence has not brought any relief to the lives of the poors. It was unbearable for him to see the poverty of the people & he preferred to die by consuming a poison. No one is asking today’s politician to die but at least become fractionally sensitivs towards the lives of the poor.


Bodhisattwa Shendre

3 Idiots, an eye opener

3 cheers to Aamir Khan for 3 idiots. Aamir has taken a dig at present education system where the students have to memorize & then to reproduced the things in 3 hours. Further rich students get spoon feeding in tution classess. In short , the present education is based on Ratta Maro principle. IITians who study engineering & then take up the jobs in banks. Parents force the children to study the subjects where the students don’t have any interest..

The student who score higher marks are supposed to be meritorious. Really speaking, a tribal who is working in the forest is more talented who has to face difficult conditions for survival. The carpenter, the electrician , the plumber are much more talented & skillful who are doing practical work. But our society gives least importance to them. The English speaking MBA graduates are offered unimaginable hefty salaries which widens the rift in the society. These people are proficient in numerical & are highly theoretical. This terminology is known as merit. The proponent of merit are against the reservation for SC/STs. They are speaking for merit of Ratta. Reservation provides level playing field to weaker sections which is required for betterment of society.

Bodhisattwa Shendre

A Tribute To Prof.Arun Kamble

It is a sad news learnt from internet that Mr. Arun Kamble is no more. His dead body was found in Hussein Sagar lake in Hydrabad on 21st Dec 2009 . He was undergoing depression during last phase of life. Prof. Arun Kamble , Raja Dhale, Arjun Dangle were the founders of Dalit Panthers, a youth movement of Dalit youths of Maharashtra. 1970 onwards Dalit Panthers had the capacity to fight Shiv Sena on the streets. Shiv Sena has grown from strength to strength but Dalit Panthers weakened year after year. The reasons are internal bickering & lack of financial support. Whereas Shiv Sena had better financial strength & clandestine support of successive govts for fighting against Dalit movement.

Prof. Kamble was on forefront in the movement of re christening the Marathwada University to Dr. Ambedkar Marathwada University. Prof. Kamble & his comrades have given new dimensions to Dalit literature which brought out Dalits from clutches of blind faiths & old illogical traditions. His marathi books Dharmantarachi Bhimgarjana & Chalwaliche Divas are worth mentioning. He was national General Secretary of Janata Dal & he was Ph.D. guide in Mumbai University.

His contributions to the movement of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar will be long remembered. Jai Bhim to Arun Kamble.

By-Bodhisattwa Shendre

Reservation in Private is a Dire Necessity

Only handful of Dalits & Tribals could do little economic progress due to Job reservation policy in govt. But hue & cry is made by higher echelons of a society against job reservation . Educated parents spread ante reservation venom among their children. Dalit & Tribal students are taunted & humiliated in the schools & colleges. Now full stop has been put to the reservation policy because of the privatization policy of the govt.

British realized the pathetic situations of the downtrodden of the society whose status was lesser than animals. Morley-Minto commission had given some benefits to the oppressed classes. Then due to efforts of Dr. Ambedkar, reservation in jobs were given to the SC/STs constitutionally. The policy of reservation was implemented half heartedly till 1990. Only handful of SC/STs could get benefits due to reservation till this time. Then came the Privatization policy during the time of Narsingh Rao & Manmohan Singh, the doors of recruitment were totally shut for Dalits. Earlier public sectors were recruiting about 10000 SC/ST engineering graduates every year. Now there is almost nil recruitment. Many of these engineering graduates practically came on the roads as they do not have any sources in private companies, their only source of reservation system was snatched from them. This has happened in all kinds of Jobs. The doors of economic progress of SCs/STs are totally shut due to privatization policy after 1990. They are being forced to old slavery system.

It is well known fact that jobs in the private sectors can be obtained through the insiders. Dalits & Tribals do not have access to this kind of system. Higher caste people get preferences in this system which is in existence since generations. Is this not a reservation system? Why no one speaks about this system? Only questions are raised about reservation of SC/STs. The proponents of merit do not understand that the reservation for Dalits helps them to compensate discriminations which they are facing in every walk of life. It is not wise to ask Dalits & Tribals to compete in the unfair competition. The present society full of discriminations cannot offer level playing field to dalits & tribals. They are the victims of exclusions.

The private sector is fully engrossed in profit earnings. On their own they will not come forward for affirmative action which is in existence in USA. Govt has to make law for job reservation in private in order bring economic upliftment of weaker sections. Already considerable delay has taken place since 1990, govt must wake up & act for job reservation weaker sections in private.

- Bodhisattwa Shendre

LONG LIVE UDIT RAJ!!

It is pleasant coincidence that the Birthday of Dr. Udit Raj falls on 26th Jan on the Republic day . He is the lone battler fighting for the rights of Dalits which is the most exploited strata of Indian society. Udit Raj is struggling for Dalits through welfare organization like Lord Buddha club & confederation of SC/ST organization.

History of India replete with atrocities on lower castes by higher castes. Earlier stalling the progress of lower castes was done through methods scripted in Manusmriti. Now it is done by challenging reservation in courts & making bureaucratic rules etc. Taking shelter of Supreme court verdict, 5 GRs were made by bureaucracy which stalled complete functioning of job reservation system. At that juncture you have brought pressure on govt by organizing SC/ST MPs & organizing huge rallies at Delhi. As a result , govt repealed 3 GRs. You have led the movement by leaving the lucrative job of commissioner of Taxes. People struggle to get this kind of high profile job of govt of India. It requires great courage & inner strengths to sacrifice such jobs before completion of 20 years of service. This is the greatest sacrifice , I have seen in contemporary dalit movement. There are many dalit leaders mushroomed in Gallis & Mohallas of India but they have motivation of money. They read one or two books of Dr. Ambedkar & consider themselves as the most learned creatures on the earth & their ego goes to seventh heaven. Dalit movement is hampered due to these kind of leaders.

At the moment , I feel you can only show the light in the darkness especially at this point of time when there is a upsurge from reactionary forces of high castes against the Dalits. You are the leader having base of pure Ambedkarism. There may be few followers with you at this juncture but numbers will go up & up in futures as the struggle has the base of honesty & sacrifice.

On this day of 26th of Jan, may the hearty wishes of your admirers & followers give you strengths to fight for the exploited. Let the others built their castles on Moon, you remain attached to the ground on earth fighting for the cause of dalits.

Gadkari -another feather in Nagpur Cap

It is good to see wide & smooth roads in Nagpur. One can thoroughly enjoy driving a car in Nagpur. You don’t have to face mind boggling traffic jams of big cities. There is a sea change in infrastructure of Nagpur. Thanks to Mr. Chandrashekhar, Ex commissioner of Nagpur. Many pvt engg colleges & good restaurants are available in Nagpur city now. But I have only lament that it is lagging behind in speed in industrial progress as compared to cities like Mumbai & Pune. Very few job opportunities are available in software & other industries. State govt. has to give tax concessions for development of industries in Vidarbha region. Vidarbha could not get benefits from central govt meant for backward state as Vidharbha falls in progressive state of Maharashtra. Secondly state govt do not give any tax concessions for industrial development. Nagpur could not get any IIT or IIM as Central govt has adopted the policy of one institute for one state.

After a long gap , I heard the good news about Nagpur that a Nagpurian , Mr. Nitin Gadkari has become the BJP president. I think before him, Mr. Vasant Sathe & Mr. A.B. Bardhan are the only Nagpurians who have made marks in National politics.

Nagpur is famous for many things like oranges, RSS center & kind hearted people. Last but not least Nagpur is a important place for me because Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar has embraced Buddhism along with his followers in Nagpur.

Bodhisattwa Shendre, Mumbai

English Press – Pro-rich

There are many English national Dailies which are managed by rich people. One article, I read in TOI regarding inconvenience caused to local people highlighting the dirtiness of the people who gather at Chatyabhumi on 6 th December. It is unfortunate that the Newspaper given publicity to the inconveniences of the people but noting written about the such big event where 10 lakh people gather every year to pay homage to Dr. Ambedkar. This shows the pro rich stance of English Press. Mostly these young English journalists hails from rich & higher middle classes. They have access to top 20 English schools of Mumbai & Delhi. Any Tom, Dick & Harry can develop proficiency in English language if one gets opprtunity to learn in top english medium school. These people surpassed Britons & Americans on command over English language. But they don’t have concerns for the problems of the downtrodden. We are missing the journalists of previous generations who had concerns for lower strata of society. It is very unfortunate that our top ministers & bureaucrats read these newspapers & give weight age to them. In short , English media represents Classes & not the masses.

Bodhisattwa Shendre

Criticism on Chaityabhoomi event unwelcome

This refers to the article “Shivaji Park locals hunker down for Chaityabhoomi” written by Bella Jaisinghani/TNN on 6/12/09. The article is totally biased against the sentiments of Dalits of India. The followers of Dr. Ambedkar gather at Chaityabhoomi to express their love, respect and devotion to their messiah Dr. Ambedkar. The people don’t come here as tourists to see Mumbai but to pay homage to their savior. The predominant gathering consists of people from rural background, the original inhabitants of Maharashtra. Highlighting the dirtiness of these people just shows the mentality of the rich for the poor people. In the area only bookstalls and food stalls are seen and not any kind of dances or dramas organized which would cause more disturbances to the people in the locality. The inconvenience caused to the people in the locality is bound to happen. This can be seen as the failures of the government who have not developed this area as a site of heritage. Instead, the government has allowed mushrooming of the residential and commercial complexes around the locality. It is alleged by the author that politicians behoove the people to come to Chaityabhoomi. But, the fact is that they come to pay tribute their savior and not to obey any politician. Otherwise, many of these politicians would have won the elections. Such a huge gathering conducted in a peaceful manner is indeed laudable. Heartiest thanks to Municipal Corporation which provides support and carries out cleaning on the very next day.

BUDDHA IS SMILING IN DARJEELING & GANGTOK

The fascinating mountains of Himalayas always attract the attention of people all over the world. The range of Himalayas is spread from Kashmir to Assam. The glaciers, the ice-peaks are the subject of curiosity to me. I chose Sikkim and Darjeeling to have the glimpses of Himalayan Mountains.My actual tour to this region starts from Bagdogra where the airport is situated. When the taxi enters from foothills to mountains, it is different world altogether. My taxi traveled through the spiral and narrow roads of the mountains. The first halt was a Buddhist temple. As we go up through the hills, the beauty of the nature also goes up. After completing a journey of four hours, we could have glimpses of Darjeeling town. A beautiful town settled on the hills. The lighting of the town gives beautiful view of the town from the outskirts. At last, we reached the town in the evening, where you feel cold air piercing the body. In the month of March, one will have feeling of severe winter in Darjeeling. We closed ourselves in the hotel room immediately. A heater in the room is very essential requirement.

Next day’s plan was to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and go to tiger hill to view the sunrise. As per our plan, we woke up early in the morning. A Gorkha driver with his taxi was already waiting for us. A man having sharp and piercing eyes, he was very expert in driving. Driving through ups & downs of the hills requires a very very special skill. Our driver always had a smile on his face and his continuous talk was giving us full entertainment.

But severe cold breeze coming from the icy mountains of Himalayas was unbearable. There were already fifty tourist taxis waiting at the tiger hill for viewing sunrise. The severe cold was unbearable & it was so foggy that it was difficult to see the next mountain, leave alone the sunrise and Kanchenjunga. Not getting a chance to view the sunrise, we were disappointed. But anyhow we saw various Buddhist monasteries, Batasia loop, mountaineering institute and tea gardens. These all places were worth seeing. A folk dance in the Gangamaya Park gave us idea about dancing culture prevailing in Darjeeling. It appears that rhythm in dance & sweet music is inherited by the common folk.

Because of the fog, we could not have the darshan of the mighty Kanchenjunga Mountain. Our driver hinted that you have to pray to god for a clear sky. In the night, we were praying for a clear sky. Next morning I woke up early in morning and sat in front of the hotel room & kept searching for the peak of the Kanchenjunga. I saw some white lining appearing in the horizon. I thought it may be Kanchenjunga. Gradually the view became clearer and there was a view of the Kanchenjunga, the beautiful mountains in front of our eyes. After watching this beautiful white range, I thanked god that I accomplished the mission of my visit to Darjeeling. What a beautiful view it was! I was feeling as if I had seen paradise on earth. It was difficult to take away the eyes from these mountains. This view was visible for 1 or 2 hours, but when the sun came up & the fog rose, all the mountains disappeared. In short, the darshan of Kanchenjunga was available for 1or 2 hours only. We had seen Mirik Lake and Nepal border too. We were feeling pretty excited on seeing our soldiers guarding our border, throughout in worst weather conditions

Then the next task was to go to Gangtok- Sikkim. We were going through Nepal-Sikkim border on the road. The view from the taxi was beautiful- the tea garden, the hills and the pine trees, all were satisfying our eyes.

On the way, we saw the Teesta River. It was appearing as though it was piercing through the mountains. We enjoyed rafting, which was another thrilling experience. At last we reached Gangtok. It was noticed that the same gorkha culture is there, but only difference was sparse population & neat and clean roads. Here , we chose a hotel, from where we could get a view of the Kanchenjunga fro m the hotel room. One novel thing we noticed was that there was a main road, namely M.G.Road. Here vehicles are not allowed. The tourists and the local people do the marketing there by simply walking.

For one whole day, we had done local sightseeing, which included Buddhist monasteries, flower show and local viewpoints on the hills. For some time, it rained and it again became clear. Our hotel people informed us that the weather in Sikkim is unpredictable.For the next day, we had planned for the ultimate place of our tour i. e. the Tsongo Lake, Baba mandir & china border. We started early in the morning. Our taxi was climbing the hills and the road was very narrow. If your vehicle loses balance, nobody can save you.The cold was very severe. We were at the height of 13,000feet above the sea level. We had covered every part of our body. We saw sparse patches of ice surrounding us. Gradually, we began to see ice everywhere. We were going more upwards when our taxi reached 6 kms before the lake a heavy snowfall started. It was a lifetime’s experience. All the tourists were enjoying, shouting and taking photo snaps. There was a joy on every face as they have feeling of winning a war. Due to heavy snowfall, we were prohibited from going further for Tsongo Lake and Baba mandir. It was difficult to go further because our vehicles were skidding and it was very difficult to drive too. But we had enjoyed the snowfall. It was told that only lucky tourist get a chance to experience that kind of snowfall.

The land of Himalayas is really peaceful. It seems the cold breeze brings peace to the Buddhist monasteries who spread culture of peace & tranquility in the society. We can say that the icy Himalayas give inspiration to spread Buddhist culture of peace.There are few places left in India, the birth place of Buddha where Buddhist culture is found. After seeing these monasteries I thought that Buddha is smiling in this part of India. I really will carry the memories of the Himalayas-the king of all mountain ranges-in my mind throughout my life. The culture of the people Gorkhas, Lepchas, Bhutanese is really special & praiseworthy.